It's been nearly a decade and a half since multi-instrumentalists Peter Hayes and Robert Levon Been began gigging around their native San Francisco under the wordily esoteric banner of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Sporting a sound that suggested a marriage of Shoegaze, Classic Rock and contemporary Indie Rock, BRMC quickly garnered great reviews and a passionately dedicated fan base. With 2010's Beat the Devil's Tattoo, BRMC shifted from longtime drummer Nick Jago to ex-Raveonettes beatkeeper Leah Shapiro, inspiring Hayes and Been to write and record at a furious pace for one of their best albums to date. The motivation behind this year's Specter at the Feast was considerably more somber, as the album is a melancholy tribute to Been's father, former Call vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Michael Been, who died of a heart attack in Europe while serving as BRMC's touring sound engineer; the band does a crackling cover of The Call's "Let the Day Begin" on the new album. Even in this subdued atmosphere, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club bristles with psychedelic energy and Classic Rock power, the sonic model that Hayes and Been have followed from the very beginning.