The Blackmarket debut
As far as debut’s go, ‘The Elephant In The Room’ has something uniquely dedicated about it. You get many debut albums that have bands attempting a style of music, combinations of all genres trying to build something interesting, entertaining and lovable, while at the same time stand out as something you could listen to repeatedly and never get bored. Not many actually succeed with their first attempt; Blackmarket however have.
They have made a very accomplished album with twelve easy to listen to tunes. None have uniqueness in itself, but as a whole there is something that remains powerfully bewildering. Could it be the sing-a-long friendly choruses like that of ‘Shelia’; the touching moments with guitar riffs making such impacts they could leave a bruise on ‘Sooner or Later’; the more focused and raw setting of ‘White Lie’ or the madness at the bands centre explored by fearsome riffs and a jazzy beat in ‘Bad Call’. There is something hypnotic that grabs your attention and keeps you entertained for the next 45 minutes. As dazzling as the music, vocals from Daryl are conveyed with such passion and devotion that you want to hear more, fall into the CD and be surrounded by the music.
As I sat listening to this record, drifting away into the electric melodies of ‘Remote (Control Freak)’ I took a glance at the additional information on the packaging. It states “SOONER OR LATER the PERMINANT YOU will perform MAGIC TRICKS for SHELIA until she’s OUT OF ORDER. Being a DRUG ADDICT you’ll make the BAD CALL of telling a WHITE LIE about the NIGHT IN QUESTION. Remember, you’re only an ALIBI for your REMOTE CONTROL, FREAK. To review this message again press CTRL ALT DEL.” Not only is this statement confusing, but it also gets the brain rattling along to the tunes and their titles. It doesn’t let the music travel through one ear and out the other, forgotten as soon as the CD stops. The songs and their power over the listener remains, and the statement still had me re-reading many times again once the CD had played its duration.
It is plain to see there are four very eager, creative and ambitious minds at work with this release. When their imagination is put to the test, Blackmarket is able to create an album with a difference.