The Black Keys: The Duo that Relit the Flames of Blues Rock

A slow, pulsing, almost tribal drumbeat rattles in the opening track of The Rubber Factory; the third album from blues infused garage-rock band, The Black Keys. "When the Lights Go Out" heralded a testament that the soul of this duo had yet to go deeper.

Singer Dan Auerbach's moody bellows croon and culminate over his whaling six string riffs, buzzing and grinding to the booty shaking rhythms of drummer Patrick Carney. "When the Lights Go Out", is just one of the reasons to think that The Black Keys are sparking matches in the gas filled room where someone turned the lights out on Blues Rock; a sound that's ready to blow.

Auerbach and Carney raised an infectious sound of 12 bar blues with lyrical storytelling from back room bars and smoky backcountry shacks. Yet they hail from the pavement of Akron Ohio and after getting fired from their landscaping jobs, packed their hatchback and blazed a trail of heart pounding gigs.

That was 2002 with their debut album, The Big Come Up, and then 2003 brought the thundering, Thickfreakness and a consecutive run into 2004's The Rubber Factory and an EP, The Moan. With a Junior Kimbrough tribute album and an official bootleg Live Album, 2006 also brought their latest, Magic Potion. In case you weren't counting that's seven releases in the course of five years, fanning a fire whose flames don't to seem to be simmering anytime soon.

With a tinny, stylish touch, they first recorded in an Ohio basement with the Fat Possum Label and that authentic sound still resonates on Magic Potion. With tracks like "Strange Desire", "The Flame" and "You're the One", the album brews up lustful howls of a scorned heart. Auerbach plays like a guy who just wants to Rock, but is fighting off the ghosts of Blues legends battling for his soul. All the while Carney drops the big guns to keep the duo on the path of Rock oblivion.