Wednesday 11 July 2012

Very rarely do I buy an album solely on the album cover but this proves the exception to the rule.....

Four heavily made up young ladies holding hands and dressed all in black with large brimmed hats - surely the  riders of the apocalypse younger sisters leaving the cowboy bar from hell

The Black Belles self titled album is an unexpected treat. This though is American Gothic and so these girls grew up on The Ramones and The Cramps rather than dry ice and the Sisters of Mercy....

of the 11 tracks only one last more than 3 minutes - short sharp shocks of primal guitar rock with attitude. There is nothing musically subtle here and those aren't the vocals of a X Factor contestant.

Lyrically it's not quite at the levels of male hatred that Emilie Autumn reaches but I would guess these girls may have been wronged by a few men in the past.

The swirling eerie organ on Honky Tonk Horror and Pushing Up Daisies add to the atmospherics and there is also a large dash of melody spread throughout the tracks. The Wrong Door has a surfin' feel to the guitars and is as catchy as hell.

Jack White produced the album and there is a White Stripes influence but not enough to detract from the band's own sound

This is how an all girl band should sound  - highly recommended