aaamusic | On 03, Dec 2012

Considering the company they keep, it’s hard to see why Belgian garage rockers Creature with the Atom Brain have kept such a low profile on these shores for so long. Considering that they’ve toured with everyone from Deftones to Queens of the Stone Age to The Jesus and Mary Chain and had Mark bloody Lanegan guesting on their debut album, they seem to be the kind of band whose name would ring a bell among the more hardcore QOTSA watchers, and on the strength of this, their third album, it seems like it’s high time for them to get better acquainted for Creature with the Atom Brain’s brand of skewed, thrillingly raw garage rock. Bringing with it a sense of confidence and chemistry that one doesn’t often see in a genre known for rag-tag, ramshackle thrills, The Birds Fly Low sounds like what it is, a group of musicians who know exactly what they’re doing and what exactly to sound like, doing what they do best. This is all well and good, hell, it’s pretty awesome for most part, but when like most garage rock releases, when one gets over the groovy novelty and immediacy of the songs… one realizes that they’re all kind of similar.

Like any band that the criticism applies to, when it’s good it really doesn’t matter. Most of the album has a dark, slightly sleazy atmosphere that perfectly complements singer Aldo Struyf’s rusty baritone, with the majority of the songs being powered by ominous, distorted bass lines, with shards of disjointed, trebly guitar cutting in and out more to unnerve than anything else. Sayonara is a perfect example of this, with a bass riff interesting enough to carry all three minutes and forty-two seconds of it all and catchy enough to stay with you for a long time afterwards despite the fact that it’s all of three notes, four tops. This method achieves similar success on the likes of strutting opener Hit The Sky, and Break Me Blue reverts things by opening with a stinging, bright guitar solo which laughs in the face of the more subdued rest of the album. However, Break Me Blue’s bright intro is the one moment of genuine clarity and definition on an otherwise very hazy record, nothing reaches beyond a loping tempo and Struyf’s vocals rarely seem to be stretching themselves and when the tracks seem uninspiring, it really shows. The Dust of Time plods over an uninspired riff while a lone guitar noodles aimlessly over it, even a previously very well utilised brass section (check out the almost dub influenced The Beauty of the Rain for proof of that) fails to lift things.

It’s an issue that a lot of bands seem to have when they’ve found their niche, and for Creature with the Atom Brain it’s no different. It’s understandable to stick to what you’re good at but this album seems to run it into the ground, especially when the albums unequivocal best track, the melodic closer Slide, is also the one least like its predecessors, as it features a modicum of intensity and propulsion alongside its melodiousness. Cautiously, I recommend this album; yes it might get rather repetitive but for fans of very eclectic guitar music, something that seems to be in vogue recently thanks to the advent of bands like Toy, Peace and Savages, this might not change your world but it will make it a much more interesting place for the next forty-five minutes or so.

★★★★★

Will Howard