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What do you get when you combine
former members of Carcass, one from Cathedral and a demonically inspired
title and cover illustration?
Wrong!
Because no matter what your response, the end result of this new recording
by Blackstar Rising is bound to throw you toward an out of
the way place left to figure how you lost track.
“Barbed Wire Soul” sounds neither like the former bands but
something more like Motorhead meets the Stones with Gravedigger’s
Chris Boltendahl lending the vocal chops. No, it is still Jeff Walker
from Carcass doing the vocals and to the new listener, the suggestion
that he’s gone and polished the singing down to a dull roar would
be enough to earn you several bewildered stares. But the fact is,
the album fashions a heavy rock and groove balance that if anything,
borrows slightly from where Carcass was headed during their final
“swansong,” but completely different in so many ways.
The song structures are tightly formatted and direct, featuring enough
hacking and slicing to send a herd of buffalo storming straight for
the hills in fear for their lives. For anybody that’s followed up
on Arch Enemy recently and the current doings of Carnage’s Mike Amott,
the comparative progression between the two bands from their previous
one’s paints a pretty good picture. If that doesn’t do it for you,
try Bathory with Quorthon’s solo stuff—with “Barbed Wire Soul”
having tons more ammunition loaded in the chambers!
Though Blackstar’s less inclined to go off on those thrashy
fits as the past would indicate, melody and an imaginative progression
to song writing are the key elements that fill in what was missing.
Hell, there’s even a brass section on two of the songs, “Rock &
Roll Circus” and “Waste of Space!” “Sound of Silence,” “New
Song” and “Deep Wound” are among the album’s best, though
“New Song” could’ve started out stronger had they added the
punch of a continuous bassline as the song was first building momentum.
But a definite one to crank anyhow.
Blackstar Rising’s gone and added a new dimension to heavy
rock that it seems little by little is the way many of their peers
are moving toward—keep the raw aggression intact and bring out the
musical nature that often gets buried behind the ghastly image and
quest for satanic superiority; Then squeeze out an extra ounce of
nastiness to make up for the displaced noise. “Barbed Wire Soul”
rocks with bombastic fury with no contradictions or apologies as they
stride into a niche of their own.
Nice to hear a record with songs you can follow along with consistent
beats and strong guitar chops, without the awkwardness of soul searching
in the middle of the mix. Blackstar will be one to watch as
they slowly “rise” above the rest.
Released by Metal Blade Records GmbH, P.O. Box 1332, 73054 Eislingen,
Germany.
Metal Blade Records Inc, 2828 Cochran St. Suite 302, Simi Valley,
CA 93065-2793, USA
Website : http://metalblade.iuma.com/
Email : mtlbldrcds@aol.com
Review by Vinnie Apicella.
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The CD
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