Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Beat the Devil's Tattoo

In 2010, after various misunderstandings with record labels, the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, with former Raveonettes drummer Leah Saphiro replacing Nick Jago, released this album under their independent record label, Abstract Dragon. "Beat the Devil's Tattoo" is an album that doesn't fundamentally bring major variations to the band's classic sound, always characterized by heavily distorted guitars, highly reverberated sounds, and booming bass. Unfortunately, however, we are probably faced with the worst release from the Black Rebels (though not entirely terrible), if we don't count the unnecessary and embarrassing noise/drone experiment "The Effects of 333" among the band's official albums. The tracks often drag on too long and become boring and heavy, decidedly lacking the fresh, though not innovative, songwriting that characterized all previous albums.

And yet, at the opening, we find the title track, perhaps the band's most famous piece, a good track, even if a bit repetitive. The next track, the garage rock of "Conscience Killer", is also decidedly fun. Despite its strong catchiness, "Bad Blood" also makes a good impression on the album. As the title suggests, "War Machine" is a piece with a powerful march, another successful piece. If "Shadow's Keeper" and "Mama Taught Me Better" are the best tracks on the album, always appreciated by fans during live performances, little else on the album is worth saving, except for the decent "River Styx" and the piano ballad "Long Way Down". For the rest, we find boring and poorly written tracks like "The Toll", "Aya", "Evol", and "Sweet Feeling", which aims to wink at some pieces from "Howl", but seems fake in its almost forced genuineness. Finally, we find the usual lengthy jam, "Half-State", which, however, absolutely does not reach the heights of psychedelic rides like "Heart+Soul" from "Take Them On, On Your Own" or "American X" from "Baby 81".

In conclusion, an album that clings to the band's tradition but presents too many negative episodes, and overall not too thrilling tracks, lacking that dark and desperate atmosphere of the early albums. Therefore, if you are a lover of band classics like "Love Burns", "Stop" and "Weapon of Choice", this album will make you nostalgic for the old days...