The Dirtbombs

Detroit isn’t Rock City for nothing, and back when no one else cared, bands like the Dirtbombs were like the last true believers, proudly, loudly carrying on the garage-rock tradition while Jack White was working in upholstery. Still fronted by vocalist-guitarist Mick Collins, the band sounds as strong as its name on its latest album, a concept piece inspired by graphic-novel fantasist Alan Moore’s Leopard Man at C & A.

It feels wrong to dislike any group that can attack a song with the gusto of “Ever Lovin’ Man,” with its dynamic flair for drama, soulful backing chorus and Collins’s throat-on-his-sleeve passion. If DJs spun this track at strip clubs instead of Nelly, the divorce rate would skyrocket. The penchant for stripped-down arrangements serves “Wreck My Flow” as purposefully: Much of the song is just percussion and horns, with some rudimentary rhythm guitar, over which Collins recites lines that evoke Chuck Berry’s “Too Much Monkey Business” and PJ Harvey’s work in equal measure.

Unfortunately, too much of We Have You Surrounded sounds like what it is: extremely well-chewed garage-rock revival stomp that translates into killer live shows but sounds canned on disc. When Collins shows a more creative spark (as on the stately nonraver “La Fin de Monde”), it suggests there’s more to the Dirtbombs than blown amps and a staccato backbeat.

The Dirtbombs play Double Door Thursday 21.