Usually when a band comes along that is new and from Australia, some unusual shit's about to go down. CARBON BLACK is no exception with their first full length release, "End Of This", followup to a 2014 debut EP. What they're bringing is a DISTURBED meets PANTERA sound (as Metal Obsession acutely noted) with METALLICA's songwriting and melodic influence. If those three bands had a child, and that child bullied some kid in middle school, that kid is CARBON BLACK. It's groove metal fueled riffs backed by thrash overtones and doom filled, angst induced melodies. The melodies and riffs sound like METALLICA, but the vocals sound like DISTURBED, but the chug sounds like PANTERA and METALLICA made out in a closet, it's all sorts of confusing, but good. Classic Australia.

The album kicks off with a 1:02 intro track. Lately I've been finding myself tired of obligatory album openers that are short and epic instrumental tracks, but I dunno I guess something about the old latin charm of "Timent Puer Natus" won me over. And I guess it's not really instrumental, there is an assortment of background screams, growls, shrieks, and otherwise metal vocals. It's like ambient vocals, man. It pleasantly sets up the album. Don't be fooled by the opener though, instrumental interlude "Deceive" appearing at number 6 on the album is kinda cool, but a complete waste of space ultimately. Especially following middle album banger COWARDS. Sorry bois.

Moving into track 2 is lead single, title track, and presumed pride and joy of CARBON BLACK, "End of This". I didn't think it was one of the strongest tracks on the album. It had a very repetitive and droning chug that sounded like it could have literally just been DISTURBED featuring METALLICA, which was fine. Even great at times. But it was formulaic and a touch boring, and I felt other songs could have represented the album better.

I thought they found their strongest moments on their groovier tracks, which is where they also showed off a little more technicality with their playing and songwriting. Track 5 COWARDS is my favorite off the album, I thought they really found their optimal sound here. It was their best use of melody on the album, and the groove metal chug they found was the most original and catchy on the album. Call me crazy but I feel like this should have been a no brainer for lead single and music video. But what do I know man.

I also liked "Unseen" quite a bit, it showed their slower and dronier side that grew into a delightfully heavy chug as the song went on. I felt they demonstrated a heavier but melodic side here, along with tracks like "Plastic Art" and closer "Blood and Sacrifice" which had some of the heavier moments on the album. "Deny" had maybe the heaviest breakdown on the album. "Ignorance" had some of the most technical playing and saw a lot more thrash influence.

All in all it's a complete album, and a solid debut from the newcomers down unda. It has a well executed ebb and flow, with a definitive beginning and a banger of a closer. I appreciate good album structure, and "End of This" has it. It was a self release and appeared to be a collaborative effort between the band and staff at a local studio, so hats off for making it all happen at this level of quality (the production was clearly self produced, but held its own). It would be interesting to see what they could do with a label financed production team. For now, this is a solid 1st full length that I would definitely recommend checking out.