Black Light Burns - Cruel Melody
It’s been a fair while since I’ve been genuinely intrigued by a new album and I stress the word intrigued. I’ve been interested in many of course, eagerly awaited others and have absolutely no interest whatsoever in some, but with Black Light Burns it was a case of not knowing at all what this combination would sound like, I had absolutely no idea what the genre would be. You’ve got Limp Bizkit’s former guitarist Wes Borland, Nine Inch Nails bassist Danny Lohner and the man who’s drummed for just about everything and everyone Josh Freese. So going by their former/current bands you’ve got a dash of nu-metal, a pinch of industrial Gothicism and some novelty punk, and the result of this super-group combination, something very interesting indeed.
My first thoughts were that it sounded like a toned down Marilyn Manson with the industrial sounds of NIN thrown in to the mix. But then another thought popped into my head on listening to album opener Mesopotamia for a second time. There’s a slight stoner grove underneath it all with fuzzy guitars and laid back bass.
With second track ‘Animal’ the NIN influence is a great deal more apparent with its industrial sound and heavy melodic chorus.
‘I Have A Need’ probably shows off Borland’s vocal ability to a higher extent with it’s stripped down introduction and ‘I Am Where It Takes Me’ illustrates the darker side of the material quite well with it’s atmospheric and gothic feel.
It’s really quite a diverse record and I suppose this is helped along by the chosen musicians and they’re different backgrounds. I’m still not entirely sure on the genre, it’s too light to fit into the gothic rock category and too dark to fit stoner. I think this is something you’ve just got to guess with, it’s absolutely diverse and full of dark anthemic sounding tracks that continue to grow on you the more you listen.
In my eyes Wes Borland has certainly redeemed his musical credibility with Black Light Burns and I’d be very interested to see this super-group combo in a live setting, even more intrigue…