Black Cross "Art Offensive" CD
[Equal Vision]
As you may or may not know by now, this band was formerly known as Black Widows and features ex-members of Endpoint, The National Acrobat, and By the Grace of God. These are all really short songs with a raw sound that kicks off with a bang and sort of catches you off guard. There's still a great deal of dissonant riffing going on, but overall this is definitely a bit more melodic than the Black Widows EP. Some of the songs are more rhythmic and somewhat laidback, and others like "Just Go Outside" are faster and far more abrasive, including some harsher backup yells that make a lot of appearances throughout the disc. But truth be told? I'm still not really getting into this band. Maybe it's because I was a big Endpoint fan and I also liked By the Grace of God and The National Acrobat, I don't know... I just think that all of these guys from such great bands should be able to come up with music that's more creative and more forceful than this. It's not bad, there are some awesome songs here. But it's a little bit boring to me. I just can't really appreciate it 100%. As mentioned the sound is almost oddly raw. Not in an underproduced way, just in a dirty and sort of thin way. The drums sound pretty good, I like the bass tone, the guitars are gritty, and the vocals are mixed deep into the music. It's really dry. It works in some ways, as it sort of give them an unexpectedly rocked out sort of vibe, but at the same time I'd like to hear them with a cleaner, fuller mix as well. I could go either way on that one. Visually the presentation is very consistent and works out perfectly. Everything is brown and metallic gold (including the opaque gold CD tray), and all of the artwork is high contrast (the band images, the logo, the cover, and so on). The lyrics appear in white and are handwritten, as is all of the text on the entire package, which creates even more consistency and appeal. I fucking love the lyrics, too. A lot of the song titles are cryptically witty in relation to their content, but the writing here is just awesome, no matter what the topic: "Not even buried yet how quickly they forget they see themselves in your shoes and clothes kids playing war with childhood innocence so far from the game where spades and hearts turn names and numbers we're torn apart one man holds the tide in the first broadcast who denied the sight of opportunity of possibility and in the wreckage clenched in your arms a warm reality a faint certainty..." Not bad, but like I said, I just can't totally get into this band. "Lifelong Cell" is an awesome song that heads in a heavier direction while retaining the melody and the abrasiveness of their other material, which I think rules... but a lot of the other songs run together for me. I still have hope, but it might just be that what these dudes are doing isn't my thing. I wish the music was as good as the lyrics. (6/10)
Running time - 26:19, Tracks: 12
[Notable tracks: Art Offensive, V.K.H.C., Lifelong Cell]
Equal Vision Records - http://www.equalvision.com

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