Creature with the Atom Brain - The Birds Fly Low

  by Benjamin Howarth

published: 12 / 1 / 2013

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There is nothing strictly new about Creature With The Atom Brain’s low slung, riff heavy, rock and roll. It’s the kind of thing the Queens of the Stone Age have been making a nice living doing for the past 15 years, and just as the Queens have steadily impressed critics less even as some fans enjoy what they do more, so too have CWTAB been victim to some unfairly withering reviews. Listening to ‘The Birds Fly Low’, it is hard not to wonder if you are playing the same album as that which many critics have dismissed out of hand. Old fashioned it may be, but uninventive it is not. This is a glorious noise – the kind of rock and roll that will never fail to satisfy. So great is the musical interplay on this album, that it is only on the fourth or fifth listen that you really start listening to the tunes that come with the grooves. Previous albums were recorded by Masters of Reality main-man Chris Goss, but this time the band recorded in their native Antwerp. And yet, despite the lack of a big name behind the mixing desk, the production is excellent – guitar lines and drums fizz out of the speakers, with a freshness you doubt they’d ever be able to replicate playing live in a small club. A horn section is out in force on ‘The Dust in Time’, and while the murky guitars sound like they have come straight from Kyuss’ ‘Sky Valley’, this track would have fitted in nicely on Beck’s ‘Midnite Vultures’. Meanwhile, Mark Lanegan drops by to lend his frazzled vocal chords to ‘Black Rider Run’, sounding as mean and moody as he always does. It’s as captivating as anything on his rightfully acclaimed ‘Blues Funeral’. But, for the most part CWTAB stick to what they know best. The bass is constantly high in the mix, and its steady rumble is the core of the record. Around it, a rotating case of drummers let rip, while guitars flit from Sabbath-styled sludge, to Clapton-esque solos and Thin Lizzy bar room blues. Its frequently compelling - the break down in ‘Wolf Eye’ – for example - is glorious, as the incessant groove of rumbling bass and drums lets rip into a sustained guitar solo. Formulaic, it may be, but it is a fantastic formula.

Track Listing:-

1 Hit the Sky
2 Wolf Eye
3 Southern Wind
4 The Beauty of the Rain
5 Black Rider Run
6 The Dust of Time
7 Sayonara
8 Nightlife
9 Break Me Blue
10 Red River
11 Slide
12 R-Frequency

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/creaturewiththeatombrain
http://www.last.fm/music/Creature+With+The+Atom+Brain
http://www.creaturewiththeatombrain.com/
https://twitter.com/cwtab

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