Being alone doesn’t have to mean lonely and as usual, on Wrong Creatures, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club have created something incredibly unique but wonderfully familiar.
Wrong Creatures plays on expectations; with seemingly casual ease the band create a record that may not surprise, but will certainly stun.
The songs follow paths they’ve trodden before, but they’re moving further along. Over the years, the band’s sound has evolved, their distinctive, almost timeless stomp becoming rock ‘n’ roll’s most upbeat downer. However, with this evolution, they’ve lessened the experimentation found on some of their self-titled debut album’s more spacious set-pieces like Rifles or Salvation.
Wrong Creatures instead seems to be a correction of trajectory. Here we see the return of these fascinating soundscapes. It makes for a more compelling record, a record with more scope and intrigue than they’ve recorded in a while.
That’s not to downplay anything which has come before, all of which have been superb, this simply highlights how exciting it is to see them broaden their range beyond their powerful punch.
Wrong Creatures’ greater range makes for an almost perfect encapsulation of everything the band are capable of. If it just had some soulful acoustic moments, a la Howl, you’d have a full house on the BRMC bingo.
Spook hits with force and abandon, reminiscent of Six Barrel Shotgun or We’re All in Love, while King Of Bones has something of My Bloody Valentine’s ability to hide melody beneath a wall of fuzzed out insanity. It’s a fascinating evolution of their usual sound.
Moving away from the stomp, Echo and Ninth Configuration are distant relations of the aforementioned Salvation and Rifles, both hypnotic soundscapes with a touch of the epic about them.
Alternately, Question Of Faith is a wonderful reminder of the brilliance of Red Eyes And Tears. It’s reminiscent due to being something equally brilliant, only this track feels a little more filthy and a lot more alive. It’s superb.
Another little nod comes in the form of Little Thing Gone Wild. It has that gushing energy found on tracks like Berlin and Whatever Happened To My Rock & Roll? and feels as full of energy as anything they’ve ever recorded.
And then it’s out in epic style with two very expansive tracks. Carried From The Start and All Rise aren’t similar per se, but they’re both huge hitters and bring a satisfactory end to a great album. A great and wonderfully glum record. A record that wallows in its dirty downbeats.
However this gloom. like Bauhaus’ In the Flat Field. like Love And Rockets’ Haunted When The Minutes Drag, or even like The Chameleons’ Up the Down Escalator, is extremely uplifting.
It’s what Black Rebel Motorcycle Club do best: making misery sound sexy, and that’s surely the true meaning of rock ‘n’ roll.
