Album Review: "Goin' Under" by Black Trip (Re-Release, sort of)

Goin' Under

Today's review is the debut album of a side project. Ex-Entombed drummer, Peter Stjärnvind, who's playing guitar on this album, hatched the idea for this project way back in 2003.

Black Trip was put on hiatus until 2011, yes a full eight years, until a meeting with vocalist, Joseph Tholl. They recorded a demo and then returned with a full band....and fast forward a bit...

Well, many years later and the album now has its very own US release on Prosthetic Records.

The band is considered to be "classic heavy metalists." Frankly, I'm really beginning chuckle at the classifications of metal. Can't we just say heavy metal anymore? Of course that's neither here nor there, as the band claims to be influenced by the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.

Black Trip

To begin with, this band strikes me as being far more influenced by the Old Wave of British (and Irish) Heavy Metal.

If they had not listed the NWOBHM as their primary influence, I'd have never heard it.

The biggest correlation I can hear is Thin Lizzy.

The music is very much rooted in 70's Hard Rock. The guitars are overdriven, but a touch less than Kiss.

The vocals are very much Thin Lizzy inspired. The guitars are very much reminiscent, including melodic fills after the riff like in The Boys Are Back In Town, but since Thin Lizzy's  not really around anymore, somebody's gotta take that mantle right?

Where they veer off from Lizzy is their judicious use of the wah pedal. Although, if your guitarist is a drummer by trade, wouldn't it make sense that he'd be stomping on a wah wah with the beat?

Aside from a few select passages, the music is never heavier than Deep Purple and owes a lot to Thin Lizzy. I wouldn't call this band heavy metal, but New Classic Rock. This is the band Black Country Communion hoped they could be.

Release: 8/19/14
Genre: Classic Rock (?)
Label: Prosthetic Records
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