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Review |
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I remember first coming across The Blackout back
in 2006 when they released their debut mini album
‘The Blackout! The Blackout! The Blackout’
the EP featured 6 tracks and it was pretty good
for a band’s debut release, it was nothing
special but it shown that The Blackout were a band
to be taken seriously and shown signs that they
could of been the next Welsh superstars following
in the footsteps of band such as the Lostprophets
and Funeral For A Friend.
The band then went and released their debut album
‘We Are The Dynamite’ in 2007, and
at this point things started going really well
for The Blackout as they started to become an
well established band and at this time I also
went off the band and never gave their album a
listen even though they went on to tour with some
huge bands such as Linkin Park, NERD, Gallows,
Glassjaw and many other bands across the UK, The
Blackout also went on and played huge shows across
Japan, mainland Europe and the USA, as well as
playing all the major festivals across the UK
such as Reading and Leeds as well as playing on
various sold out headline tours across the UK,
now these are perfect signs that The Blackout
have been doing things right.
The Blackout are now back with their second studio
album ‘The Best In Town, the album is their
first album for Epitaph Records and to be honest
the album has blown me away with how good it is,
the album features ten tracks and each one sounds
so different from the last, each song is strong
sounding and good in its own way, The Blackout
have clearly moved on a lot since the release
of their mini album back in 2006.
The album opens up in a powerfull angry style
with ‘Shut The Fuck-Uppercut’, the
song just shows how far The Blackout have progressed
since I last listened to them, the song sounds
so perfect and polished with super good production
as the song sounds massive and for all the right
reasons, its angry with scream vocals in places,
it’s also melodic with sing-a-long vocals
in places, the guitar riffs pack an almighty punch,
this is the sound of The Blackout of 2009 who
have turned their sound up a notch or two.
‘Save Our Selves (The Warning)’,
is an epic track with the way it starts with Iron
Maiden style “Woaaahh” group chant-a-long
eerie vocals, ok to be fair it sounds nothing
like Iron Maiden but that’s what it reminds
me off as that is the trademark sound of Iron
Maiden, anyway the song goes on to become a classic
rock song with its melodic vocals of “This
is a blackout”, and the more chant-a-long
vocals of “Going out, going out, going out,
going”, along with the solid razor sharp
guitar riffs, this is without a doubt the best
song I have ever heard by The Blackout.
It is really pointless me mentioning every song
on the album as they are all of a high quality
but what I will say is you need to give ‘Top
Of The World’ a listen as it is such an
upbeat melodic song where Sean Smith’s vocals
are at their best. Also all you poppy-punk fans
will love ‘This Is Why We Can’t Have
Nice Things’ as it features Josh Franceschi
from You Me At Six on guest vocals which helps
make the song stand out that little bit more,
I swear Josh Franceschi could get in where a draft
couldn’t as he seems to be popping up all
over the place these days, if he’s not on
stage with his own band he’s on stage with
The Audition and if he’s not doing that
he is laying down vocals with as many bands as
he can.
It’s pretty obviously that The Blackout
are quite cocky and confident and you don’t
even need to know them to know that, as they have
called their album ‘The Best In Town’
and also have songs on the album called ‘Top
Of The World’ and ‘I Love Myself And
I Want to Live’ and all of these titles
suggest that The Blackout think they are something
special, and if you asked me a couple of years
ago I would have to disagree but now I agree The
Blackout are special, I wouldn’t say they
are the best band to come out of Wales but they
are defiantly within the top three in my opinion
of course.
‘The Best In Town’ is an album that
shows a band at their best and now they are signed
with Epitaph Records they are going to have a
much brighter future especially when it comes
to cracking America.
4/5
Review by Trigger |
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| Band
Members |
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Sean Smith (Vocals)
Gavin Butler (Vocals)
Matthew Davies (Lead guitar)
James Davies (Guitar)
Rhys Lewis (Bass)
Gareth Lawrence (Drums) |
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| Track
Listing |
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1. ShutTheFuckUppercut
2. Save Our Selves (The Warning)
3. Top Of The World
4. The Fire
5. Children Of The Night
6. Said & Done
7. Silent (When We Speak)
8. I Love Myself And I Wanna Live
9. This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things
10. We're Going To Hell... So Bring The Sunblock |
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| Band
Related Links |
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| Review
Score Code |
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- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
-
What Was That? |
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