The Hanging Tree
Black Light Machine
•
January 17, 2014
BLACK LIGHT MACHINE are a Metal band from Swansea, combining heavy riffs with melodic vocals, they have just released a new album called "The Hanging Tree". This album should see some good results for the band, with a heavy sound that should get them over with crowds aplenty.
Opening up with "When The Body Breaks", a very long first song for the album, the band begins affairs with some atmospheric clean guitars. They then smash into the meat of the track, with some really heavy riffs and drums going on here, with a really great melodic lead vocal on top.
The band has a very heavy sound as far as the guitar work goes but the melodic vocal is a really great addition to the band and should help separate them from the majority of the modern metal scene where there is a lot more screaming. Tracks like "The End Of Summer" with its really heavy groove and title track epic "The Hanging Tree" with a more heavy and progressive approach and long running time really helping to solidify the band's approach to songwriting and their overall sound.
They also have quite a technical side to them, as song likes "Inside The Outside" and "No Tears For Me" will show. They have the ability to write crazy sounding riffs but still fit natural sounding vocals over the top, which is really cool.
The production of the album is pretty good, plenty of heaviness involved here, with chunky guitars and heavy sounding drums. The Vocals have definitely been recorded and produced the best in my opinion though. Overall, this is a really solid release, and hopefully does well for the band so they can continue to gig and make more music in future.
8 / 10
Excellent
"The Hanging Tree" Track-listing:
1. When The Body Breaks
2. Inside The Outside
3. Mr. Stumpp
4. The End Of Summer
5. Heavens Falling
6. The Truth
7. Down
8. The Hanging Tree
9. Across The Earth
10. No Tears For Me
11. Sail Onto Me
Black Light Machine Lineup:
Andy Makin - Guitar / Vocals
Chris Angelow - Guitar
Tom Williams - Drums
Jason Sims - Bass
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