Modern Rock December CD of the Month: “El Camino” by The Black Keys

“El Camino trades the soulful stylings of Brothers for harder-driving, faster-riffing rock & roll: Opener ”Lonely Boy” is all quick-shimmying drums and raunchy guitars; ”Gold on the Ceiling,” with its swarm-of-bees organs and acid-trip gospel harmonies, could be a lost Nuggets gem. The best surprise, though, is edge-of-sanity epic ”Little Black Submarines,” a crate-digger thriller that starts as a quiet acoustic hymn, then explodes. They don’t make vintage folk-rock heavy metal like they used to — if they ever used to. And that’s a very good thing”

-Entertainment Weekly