Review: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - The Effects Of 333

Another band has thrown off the shackles of corporate oppression. Sorry for that melodramatic moment, but the Black Rebel Motorcyle Club has decided to follow the lead of Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails and release their new album digitally on their very own label.

Like Nine Inch Nails before them, the BRMC chose to make their digital album entirely instrumental. There are only 10 tracks however as opposed to the 32 you get with the NIN release.

The album begins with three very similar tracks. They consist of nothing more than pulsing noise. It's intriguing yet becomes tedious. Just when you start to wonder whether you just paid $6 for an album of noise, the fourth track grabs you with some spacey guitar rock that you would expect from BRMC. This is the instumental prog rock I was looking for... but then it's gone again.

This is the story of the album. Uninteresting noise followed by brief respites of ambient guitar rock. The only problem being that there are more noise tracks than guitar tracks. Hey, if you can get into the noise more power to you, but to me it comes across as lazy. I appreciate the effort and price point, but I expect more for my $6. Nine Inch Nails gave us 32 instrumental tracks for $5 that were definitely more inspired. Maybe, I don't understand what the BRMC was going for. When you download the album, you recieve a link to charity that the BRMC supports. If you donate to them, you get a remixed track plus a way to decode the words in The Effects of 333. Maybe there is more below the surface. Either way, it is always refreshing to see artists try new things and find new ways to bring music to the masses. You can purchase the album from the BRMC website.

Highs: "And With This Comes", "A Twisted Side"
Lows: "The Effects of 333", "We're Not Welcome Alone"

Rating: 4.9