Review: Blacklist ‘Afterworld’
It’s so wonderful to come and review a band that ticks all the boxes for you and this sure is one. I just can’t stop listening to this album, I fucking love it. Reminiscent of one of my favourites, and sorely underappreciated bands, The Comsat Angels, also with hints of The Sound and Killing Joke the moods created here are of a very high standard. Also, the songwriting shines through in the way classic albums used to back in the day. Described as ‘darkly erotic’ and ‘strangely sensual’ by The Village Voice and ‘a much-needed anomaly in NYC’s music scene’ by Other Music NYC, I agree 100% as this is a fucking great record.
Beginning their journey as the flagship band of Pieter Schoolwerth’s Weird Records, this is a band who love their music dark, melodic and emotive. Their debut album Midnight Of The Century was released in 2009. It focussed on the rejection of fascism, because as you will remember, the far right were looming large, especially in the USA with the rise of Trump. Then fast forward several years Disorder was released as a single after a long hiatus in 2020 inspired by the racial justice protests in the USA.
So here we are 13 years later, Afterworld is with us and includes the first single The Final Resistance. High quality rock music executed with honesty and sincerity which is easy to hear and connect with. Sympathetic guitars Tom Verlaine would be proud of sit nicely with great songs to. Afterworld will be released on compact disc and vinyl via Profound Lore Records at the end of October and is available from the Blacklist Bandcamp page.
A triumph and genuinely something to get excited about in this shitty world…
I urge you to go follow them now. Honestly, every track here is a standout for me but especially No Good Answers which tips the proverbial hat so much to The Comsat Angels, it could actually be them. I can hear shades of New Zealand’s Shihad in the vocals, also VAST which is no bad thing either. I think Post-Punk.com put it best when they described the album as ‘a captivating and dense explosion of coldwave and unfettered emotion’. Really, for all my words here, those ten sum up this record.
With Joshua Strachan on vocals, guitar, synth and sax, Ryan Rayhill on bass, Glenn Maryansky on drums, James Minor and Chad Dziewor both on guitars, this album has to be one of my favourites of the year. I urge you to do the right thing, and if my words penetrate and incite you to run and listen to this great album on their Bandcamp, I am pretty damn sure you will find yourselves purchasing this record. You need it more than it needs you. A triumph and genuinely something to get excited about in this shitty world.
Label: Profound Lore Records
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram
Scribed by: Tim Keppie
