I’m not going to pretend I know the ins and outs of Pitch Blacks careers, I have read copious amounts of stuff about them, and almost all insist on telling about a huge change in sound the band has gone under. Unfortunately I’m new to the band and as such I’ll review it on the merit of how good the thirteen tracks are. And luckily they are up to such a fantastically high standard it makes my job even easier as I don’t have to pretend I know what I’m talking about in terms of back catalogue! Nice the whole not lying thing isn’t it.
Having been around since 1999, the band have had plenty of time to define their own sound, and with the addition of an organist, it gives it a nice dance punk feel throughout. The guitars are good enough, as are the vocals of Kevin Cross, but it is the twinkling of finger upon ivory which really sets the album apart from anything else around at the moment. This isn’t to say it is anything radically diverse from that much out there, but it holds your attention for longer than most manage. Opening with the tone setting ‘Tonopah’, the flow rarely lets up save for the odd let down in the form of the lacklustre ‘Plastic Eyes‘ or the equally dull ‘The Monkey Song’.
But thankfully such disappointments are rare and don’t detract too much from the overall enjoyment of the experience. While the majority of the tracks are pacy and upbeat, it isn’t just left to the adrenaline pumpers to get the album going. ‘Toothcutter’ is a brooding atmospheric number which features a cracking introduction into the first verse, while the dark ‘Sutured Heart’ holds its own despite slowing the pace down even more.
‘This is a modern sound’ is intelligent, lyrically clever and feet tappingly inventive from start to finish. The first half proves slightly more entertaining than the second but it is hard to find any major problems with such an inventive release. You can say what you like about Pitch Blacks previous material, but in this instance, the album title says it all.
Jay
Revelation Records