Music today often adheres by formulas, uses a spectrum of digital sounds, and even favors the acoustic guitar over some crazy effects on the good ol’ electric. Simply put, music has become, for the most part, tame. Despite this, Big Black Cloud really doesn’t care. With their latest album, Black Friday, the band unleashes a series of hellish songs. Big Black Cloud delivers an interesting and heavy experience, and from start to finish, you’ll find yourself completely captivated.
Black Friday starts as an intense, exciting, and wild trip down a nightmarish rabbit hole. Heavy melodies, constant distortion, and unintelligible vocals explode out of your speakers with each passing second. Big Black Cloud is easily reminiscent of other noise, punk, and industrial bands such as The Boredoms or Nervous Gender. One of the biggest key moments takes place during a song called “Wastoids.” Although one of the slower tracks, “Wastoids” captures Big Black Cloud’s style perfectly. Following a gunshot burst of drums, Big Black Cloud releases a relentless howl, “Why?!” and as the song progresses, the mood gets constantly darker. The drums hammer away, and the guitars drone onward with the same haunting melody. Each scream out of the vocalist wakes you up to a horrifying view of the world around you. Black Friday is a bad acid trip and a half.
Unfortunately, Black Friday isn’t perfect. An apocalyptic tone isn’t enough to sell this album, and at times you’ll find yourself begging for an even more aggressive sound. The first few tracks of the album come off incredibly strong. “Cities of the Red Night,” and, “Barbaric, Mystical, Bored,” are absolutely fantastic. The just plain gnarly burst of noise is great. It’s like riding an old roller coaster; it’s terrifying and unstable, but it’s just so much damn fun. But somewhere between the start of the album and the finish, something goes wrong. Big Black Cloud loses energy here and there, and their music becomes a little too calm, and even predictable.
Maybe the biggest downfall for an album like Black Friday is that you can only be so doom and gloom until you look as intimidating as a cartoon-villain. The tenth track of the album, “Human Host,” is a perfect example. Simply put, the opening guitar melody and the following vocals, drum beats, and well, everything about the song are just plain predictable.
On the other hand, Big Black Cloud is staying true to their punk ways. Simply put, they don’t really seem to be compromising of what someone else might want to hear. Even though Black Friday can be predictable, it doesn’t mean it’s not good. For fans of the band or genre, this album could easily be for you. But be warned, as fast as you’ll fall in love with Big Black Cloud’s latest album, you may grow sick of it. Melodies that all sound the same are the worst, but regardless, the album is pretty solid. Each song will have you air-drumming along and wishing you were the one who came up with this stuff.
Rating: 7.0/10
MP3: Big Black Cloud “Cities of the Red Night”
