EarthlessBlack Heaven

Nuclear Blast
16 March, 2018
5
Break hearts

Earthless have finally, finally pulled themselves out of the pigeonhole that they’re an instrumental band, with drummer Mario Rubalcaba saying Black Heaven is at least 70% vocals. What a relief.

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Creating conscious and time-restricted tracks forces Earthless to get to the point. Choruses, verses, bridges and, behold, vocals! The San Diego trio are actually giving enough that we can enjoy without being distracted—but there’s still a hint of them wanting to fall back into their comfort zone and just jam for more than several long minutes. That being said, at eight minutes and 51 seconds, Electric Flame is the longest track on the album and ringing out like a jamming sesh does mean the listeners’ attention is laboured.

Call Earthless psychedelic, call them classic rock, call them what you will, Black Heaven is a release that will, despite a yo-yo effect, keep existing fans happy and draw in new ones.

Call Earthless psychedelic, call them classic rock, call them what you will, Black Heaven is a release that will, despite a yo-yo effect, keep existing fans happy and draw in new ones. The album demonstrates a vast move away from their 2013 LP From The Ages but ultimately, Earthless will break hearts with promises they just can’t keep and have more work to do if they’re going to refine this newfound interest in structure and coherent melody.




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