Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: Howl

BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB Howl (RCA)

After two records of melodious scuzz-rock, San Francisco threesome Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's latest is a welcome revival and an unexpected musical evolution. Stripped of their amped-up distortion, songs like "Devil's Waiting" and the redemptive "Fault Line" sound like Civil War-era blues-folk, while "Ain't No Easy Way" is a superb slide-guitar stomp with plenty of joyous harmonica slivers. BRMC once offered a fitting soundtrack for a night of loose-cannon revelry; now it could easily accompany a reflective gathering on a porch at dusk.

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