Album Review: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Specter At The Feast

For their seventh album, seminal Californian garage rockers Black Rebel Motorcycle Club did something that belied their usually mysterious and insular personae. If you've seen Dave Grohl's Sound City doco (and if you haven't, do it, it's pretty incredible), you'll know that they recorded it in Grohl's studio using the fabled Neve deck that Nevermind was recorded on; also the same deck they cut their debut record on. The resulting warm, thrashy garage sound is one of BRMC going back to their roots, but incorporating a range and scope that thrusts their sound into a new era.

First note: there's a cover. But don't worry, it's not without reason. Second track, Let The Day Begin, was originally by influential Santa Cruz rockers The Call and tributes Michael Been, Robert Levon Been's father, and Leadman for The Call, who passed away not long after the release of BRMC's Beat The Devil's Tattoo in 2010. If anything, the influence of bands like Been's father's and their ilk is readily apparent, maybe moreso than on any other BRMC record. The usual soaring guitar lines are in there, but there's a genuine level of layering between each element that really builds these tracks up to a mountainous level, and truly separates them from the often flat and direct mode du jour of current garage rock. Dave Grohl's finger is also well on the button on a lot of the tracking, obviously – especially on the drums. The result is spacey and airy in parts, crunching in others.

While tracks like Teenage Disease and Hate The Taste are as old-school blues rock as you can get, there are some truly sad, moving moments that break it out of the mould. It's probably not the best BRMC album – the diversity and minimalism sometimes detracts – but Specter At The Feast carries a lot of weight behind it.