EP review: The Black Flowers – Set Free The Devil Inside

Getting a handle on The Black Flowers is an invigorating experience. On a French label, but with a suspiciously international line-up, Set Free The Devil Inside is a short set of two- or three-minute songs that sets out a garage rock stall manned by a John Lydon-inspired punk ranter. Two guitars, bass and drums is the basic set-up, and they don’t deviate from the template set out by 10,000 other bands.

“What I Want” and “Keep Coming On” provide the only really interesting moments on this standard EP, with the ghostly presence of an organist named Mimi chucking some amphetamine-fuelled Black Crowes Southern rock patterns into the mix. The addition of a stylistically unusual smearing of psychedelia adds to the bubbling pot of influences and is the most fascinating aspect of Set Free The Devil Inside.

“Familiar Outline” pounds along with brazen familiarity and a shouty chorus [another appropriate song title, eh? - Ed.] but it’s “Turn On The Night” that really kills the mood, its sub-Glam stomp kicking the shit out of any originality The Black Flowers may possess. What’s also apparent is that the band are so uncertain that the guitars stutter to a halt or dry up at a dead-end, which leads to them frequently hitting the brakes and waiting for the drummer to put them back on course; Hugo Clarence has a great deal of work to do in this band.

“Make You Suffer” sounds like well-recorded early-80s punk and the title track sums up the whole sorry affair by aping The Damned‘s worst album, 1978′s Music For Pleasure (a less honest title I’ve yet to meet). There are moments here when The Black Flowers show their lack of cohesion and uncertainty of direction. The singer seems to be pulling them one way while one of the guitarists goes another, and the poor drummer is the only one with the ability to keep them all on track.

On the inside sleeve the band wear AC/DC and Kiss t-shirts. Don’t believe the formal wear; this is a band with an identity crisis and the wrong personnel. When The Black Flowers actually congeal properly, they could be wonderful. As it is they’re just average.

Nice cover, though. [Of which, ironically enough, there seems to be no version online bigger than my little fingernail, so you'll have to take our words for it - it's a rather striking picture of a Siamese-like cat. - Ed.]