JUST for a while there it looked like BRMC were in deep trouble - bust-ups with label, management and each other resulted in a protracted silence while their turn-of-the-century contemporaries (White Stripes, Strokes etc) cleaned up.

But this new record more than makes up for the heartache and flies in the face of expectation as they trade in the rumble of their long, dark nights of the soul for something that sounds warmer and more organic even if it's born of a similar bleakness. Thus, the title track throbs with a raw energy as it bleeds its ravaged emotions over a dusty bowl of vintage rural blues, country, gospel, folk, soul and R&B. Think about the teenage Sam Cooke fronting the Fame Studios house band; think redneck country boys and richly-toned cotton-pickin' vocalists.

Promise is all bleeding feelings, Gospel Song spills its guts over a beautiful backing, while Sympathetic Noose sugars some damned ugly pills with its alluring charm.

BRMC have had it hype-greased easy and they've had it brokedown hard as well. Howl is the sound of a class act rallying itself for a better tomorrow - Nick Churchill