The Black Keys - El Camino

Fresh out of Akron, OH The Black Keys are back with their highly anticipated follow up to last year's stunning effort Brothers, El Camino. The follow up sees the band not changing anything at all from their last effort and sticking to their insatiable blend of blues and old fashioned rock n roll that has made them one of the must see acts in the music world today.

The disc starts off strong with the incredible first single, "Lonely Boy" a down and dirty, gritty old fashioned blues rock tune that gives frontman and guitarist Dan Auerbach the chance to show off his incredible vocal abilities and drummer Pat Carney starts off the song with an amazing drum pattern that ensures the album kicks off in the right mode. "Dead and Gone" is another amazing track with more toned down rhythms but still a pretty dangerous and potent track that will have you clapping your hands along to the beat of the song as it progresses. My favorite song off the album is "Gold On The Ceiling" a fuzzy, melodic blues rock opus that sees the band experimenting with some electronic influences that they did in varying degrees on their last effort, and shows that the band have become seasoned veterans in just a short amount of time in between their last discs. "Money Maker" is a melodic, straightforward tune that shows off the band's remarkable musical abilities in one short, fell swoop and clocking in at just under 3 minutes enables the band to get their point across in a remarkably short period of time. "Run Right Back" sounds like a throwback 70's era blues tune complete with Dan's smooth vocals giving the song some life and pop as the song cruises right until the very end.

We head into the disc's second half that features "Hell Of A Season" a rough, groove laden track that continues to show off the band's unique ability to blend together blues and rock all together in one unique package. The disc gets ready to close out with "Nova Baby", a drum ridden track that sees Pat getting some time in to create dynamic rhythms and build those upon Pat's gritty blues laden melodies to create something that is musically dynamic and unique. "Mind Eraser" closes out the disc with a melodic and musically advanced track that blends together all the sounds we've heard so far on the disc and present them in a unique format that gives us a synopsis of all the amazing and organic sounds that we've heard so far in succession. The Black Keys are one of the few groups in music today that take pure, unadulterated sounds and make them sound in a fashion that is both current and unlike anything that's ever been done before. We definitely need more groups like The Black Keys out there in the music world today to show people what real music both sounds and feels like.

All in all, a spectacular and well rounded effort here from The Black Keys, who have shown that they don't need to do anything in terms of improving on their sound from their last record, they can just go right ahead and play music that speaks to a group of people that know what real music is.

                                                                                                                                    Album Score: 4/5

Track Listing:

1. Lonely Boy
2. Dead and Gone
3. Gold On The Ceiling
4. Little Black Submarines
5. Money Maker
6. Run Right Back
7. Sister
8. Hell Of A Season
9. Stop Stop
10. Nova Baby
11. Mind Eraser