Volume CXXXIII, Number 2 September 19, 2003 f

What's happened to B.R.M.C.'s rock'n'roll?
MATT LAJOIE
STAFF WRITER

Two years later, in this post-Strokes, post-White Stripes music world, more attention has been given to bands that produce rock & roll the way I'd like to believe it's supposed to sound. And it is in this new, more receptive music world that Black Rebel Motorcycle Club released their sophomore album, Take Them On, On Your Own on September 2.

The band's style hasn't changed much since their eponymous debut, but that doesn't mean Take Them On… is any less exciting. The album's opening track and first single, "Stop," reflects B.R.M.C.'s love for such shoegaze and noise-pop bands as the Jesus & Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine. But this is not straight emulation; it's more like shoegaze performed by a garage band with a knack for writing a killer melody. The melody sticks in your head forever, and the fuzz-bass and guitar riffs are just as memorable.

The following track, "Six Barrel Shotgun," is a classic distortion-saturated punk-rock song that, as abrasive as it may be, is still incredibly catchy. These two songs epitomize B.R.M.C.'s sound-the marriage of '80s British noise-pop with garage-rock revival. The one track that stands outside this formula is "And I'm Aching," an acoustic Brit-pop ballad full of slightly dissonant chords and ethereal, echoing vocals. It is an especially beautiful track when placed beside the dense distortion of rest of the songs on the album.

B.R.M.C. frontmen Peter Hayes and Robert Turner trade off on lead vocals, and their lyrics this time around are more overtly political. As the title of the album suggests, many songs are about standing alone in rebellion. While this sense of dissent is obvious on songs such as "U.S. Government" (which was actually originally titled "Kill the U.S. Government"), it also pervades many other tracks on the album.

"Six Barrel Shotgun" begins with the lyrics, "I kill you all with a six barrel shotgun / I kill you all but I need you so," and the barely audible, "Don't f*** with me" ending to "Generation" is made more intense by the glorious echoing distortion and feedback that ends the song.

As in this case, the dark element of the lyrics often perfectly complements the thick wall of distortion that underlies the music. The album ends with the repetition of the lyric "save me" over an increasingly chaotic, then unraveling sonic landscape that disintegrates into pure feedback. This perfectly captures the emotion of Take Them On. It is an album full of dark, noisy-but-beautiful instrumentation, coupled with incredibly memorable rock melodies. If this is "whatever happened to rock & roll," then we're in good shape.

3.5 polar bears out of 4.

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