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So, what a pleasant surprise Beat the Devil's Tattoo turns out to be. Which isn't to suggest that the band has broken any new ground, cuz, frankly, this album plays like a mixed bag of its previous work. The field hand-stomp of the title cut could've been an outtake from Howl, while "Evol" reaches back to the Jesus and Mary Chain vibe of BRMC's first album, and the mid-tempo raunch of "Aya" could've been one of Baby 81's better cuts. The heavy nods of T. Rex, Led Zeppelin, and the Creation Records back catalogue are all still there. No, what makes Tattoo click is that it's well written. It's mostly free of the obvious clichés and ham-fisted misfires of the past couple outings. For the first time ever, BRMC has made a thoroughly enjoyable album that sounds as consistently bad-ass as the band wishes to be seen as by the world.
In the end, BRMC is predictable. It's a big, lumbering band that writes big, lumbering numbers, built for maximum rocking, even if the themes are well-worn and sometimes dumb. While the group might be a one-trick pony, that isn't such a bad thing, providing you don't saddle that horse with all your hopes for rock salvation. And with Devil's Tattoo, BRMC fully embraces the possibility that its one trick can be a pretty fucking good one.
