Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Specter at the Feast (Abstract Dragon/Vagrant)

The death of BRMC bassist Robert Been’s father – the Call’s frontman/BRMC soundman Michael Been – cast a pall over the trio’s vision, and on Specter the Bay Areans clearly struggle. Melancholy pervades the dreamy “Fire Walker” and “Returning,” while creeping darkness duels with a dramatic chorus on “Funny Games.” That’s when raging against the dying light kicks “Rival,” “Sell It,” and the scabrous “Teenage Disease” into overdrive, and the elegiac “Lose Yourself” and cover of the Call’s “Let the Day Begin” keep the hope flag waving.

(Fri., 11:30pm, Reverberation stage)

***.5

This article appears in April 26 • 2013.

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