Black Space Riders is an enigma wrapped inside a puzzle and a band that’s just really hard to pin down. That said, in a day and age where bands just come and go without any discernible distinction, BSR is a breath of fresh air with the truly indescribable slab of rawk goodness that is Amoretum Vol. 1.
“Lovely Lovelie” is like a freight train of riffs speeding into your earholes as vocalists SEB and JE trade lines that alternate between a soulful croon and menacing growl. Musically, the song is beyond epic with C.RIP being the unsung hero bringing drumming that manages to keep the pace yet yields a constant sense of going off the rails at any second as SLI and JE lay down that aforementioned riff engine.
“Another Sort of Homecoming” is as if U2 recorded Pop as a rawk record and not an electronica experiment as the guitarists just wail away with lines that’d make The Edge jealous while bassist(S!!!) SAQ and MEI keep an inherent groove throughout. “Soul Shelter (Inside of Me)” just hums along like a Joy Division classic fronted by Peter Murphy while “Friends Are Falling” is a haunting shuffle thanks to C.RIP’s percussive onslaught. “Fire! Fire! (Death of a Giant)” is a lesson in subdued excellence until inevitably opening up like the titular giant into a fuzzed out odyssey with a gruff vocal delivery.
Closer “Fellow Peacemakers” is a mostly quiet affair wrapped around a hypnotic piano line before building and building to a grand conclusion which sees Black Space Riders pulling out all the stops with hand claps, sweeping choruses, and a sonic hum like nothing else found on the record and a testament to the uniqueness of Amoretum Vol. 1 and BSR.
Amoretum Vol. 1 will be unleashed via Black Space Records on January 26th. If you wanna start 2018 off right we suggest you check this one out by pre-ordering here or here.
One Response