The Black Crowes have stirred up controversy again, but this time the Robinson Brothers arent to blame. The reactivated group, and current Relix cover subject, has publicly spoken out against Maxim magazine for running a review of its new album, Warpaint, without actually listening to the disc. In an odd move, the group refused to send press advanced copies of Warpaint, leading Maxim to review the album based on an educated guess. Below, The Crowes respond to the scandal:

How is it that a magazine can review an entire album—and assign a star rating to it—without actually hearing the album?
Case in point: the review of Warpaint —the new album by THE BLACK CROWES—in the March issue of Maxim magazine. The writer—who has not heard the album since advance CDs were not made available—wrote what appears to be a disparaging assessment anyway, citing it hasnt left Chris Robinson and the gang much room for growth.

Incredulously, the magazine gave the album a two and a half star rating—although neither the writer nor the editor could have heard more than one song (the single Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution).

When approached for an explanation, the magazine described the review as an educated guess preview. Huh?

Black Crowes manager Pete Angelus says, Maxim’s actions seem to completely lack journalistic integrity and intentionally mislead their readership. When confronted with the fact that they never heard the album they are claiming to ‘review in their music section—with a star rating, no less—they attempt to explain that it was an ‘educated guess.’ In an email correspondence, Maxim went on to state: Of course, we always prefer to (sic) hearing music, but sometimes there are big albums that we dont want to ignore that arent available to hear, which is what happened with the Crowes. Its either an educated guess preview or no coverage at all, so in this case we chose the former.

Angelus continued, It speaks directly to the lack of the publications credibility. In my opinion, its a disgrace to the arts, journalism, critics, the publication itself and the public. Whats next—Maxim’s concert reviews of shows they never attended, book reviews of books never read and film reviews of films never seen?