New band Review - Black Country Communion

 

I decided I would start a new band review to coincide with album reviews and to start it out I am taking a look at a new band Called Black Country Communion. I came across this band through Eddie Trunk's show "That Metal Show." Eddie, Jim, and Don have mentioned this band several times and recommend checking this band out. Black Country Communion is an English-British rock supergroup that consists of Glenn Hughes (bass, vocals - Mk. III & IV line-ups of Deep Purple, Black Sabbath), Jason Bonham (drums - Son of Led Zeppelin Drummer John Bonham), Derek Sherinian (keyboardist - Dream Theater), and Joe Bonamassa (guitar, vocals - Solo work). They formed in 2010 through a Guitar Center King of The Blues event in Los Angeles and have two albums out, "Black Country" (2010) and "2" (2011). The sound of Black Country Communion is a mix between American and British classic rock bands such as Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, & southern rock music such as Lynyrd Skynyrd. Upon listening to Black Country Communion you can hear influnces of other rock music such as Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, Pink Floyd, ect. If your into classic rock and like a heavy, dark, bluesy, modern twist to it then you will want to check out Black Country Communion.

"Black Country": Take southern rock and give a shot of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, add some screaming lead that mixes Lindsey Buckingham, Jimmy Page, Toni Iommi, David Gilmore,ect. and you have a pretty hard rockin' album with a few killer slower almost haunting tunes as well. While this album isn't a commercially mainstream ready album and has no tracks that would appeal to mainstream popular/top 40 music, its still very much a solid body of work that fans of this kind of music will love. I would say that I am very rooted in mainstream popular music and rarely listen to the non-mainstream/underground music such as this but I dig this group and album very much. It brings back that classic rock sound into a more modern take on it. Classic rock and hard rock fans will appreciate and like if not love this album.

Favorite tracks: "Song of Yesterday", "The Revolution In Me"

"2": "2" is for me a better album in terms of song writing and the music in general on the album. On this album you can really hear the Led Zeppelin influence. Especially on the tracks "The Outsider", "Man In The Middle" and "Little Secret". Also, influences of Fleetwood Mac/Pink Floyd with the signature Lindsay Buckingham/David Gilmore lead guitar can be heard on the track "Cold." A few more slower songs than on "Black Country" but they are dark and catchy and really put the pieces of the puzzle together on this album. Also here and there you can notice a slight influence of Lynyrd Skynyrd in there. Overall this album really packs a punch of that classic rock sound and delivers a monster sound that is sure to be appreciated by classic rock and hard rock fans. Again there is no real maintream popular, top 40 tracks on this album and the album isn't commercially mainstream ready. However, The songs are definitely radio friendly if played on a classic rock station. I would recommend "2" to start out with and then listen to "Black Country" cause overall I believe the listener will be more pleased with "2" than "Black Country." 


Favorite tracks: "The Outsider", "Man In The Middle", "Little Secret", "Cold"