Blackout Problems Drop A Heaping Helping Of Heady Art Rawk With DARK

This is a banger of a record and words have yet to be created to describe the sonic ecstasy and bliss created within that walls that are DARK. If you’re looking for comparisons then consider Blackout Problems the second coming of The (International) Noise Conspiracy but beyond that, the German quartet is actually sorta beyond compare.

That said, sitting down to edit the record with the recent assault on the US Capitol building by domestic terrorists as lyrics like “The best politician is a dead one” ring out on opener “MURDERER” was a little jarring to say the least. However, like most thought-provoking pieces of intellectual property, sometimes you just have to listen through and grasp the concept within the context as our narrator here states how he disagrees with the above statement and closes the song with bombastic calls for love and respect towards everybody.

And with that, we’re off and running.

“GERMANY, GERMANY” is a driven, sweeping anthem with bass-heavy beats thumpin’ like a heartbeat before the whole thing expands and escalates mixing Rawk, Electronica, and more to create this new sound built on the strength of Mario Radetzky’s angst-fueled voice and equally effervescent guitar lines alongside Moritz Hammrich.

“DARLING” is in another plane of existence. Kind of like Refused (The exaggerated intro to “New Noise” in this case) and kind of like Queens of the Stone Age (Think that ramp up to “Millionaire” especially) with this synthetic sheen covering all, this expansive six-minute and change slab of modern Rawk euphoria puts Marcus Schwarzbach’s bass pulses and Michael Dreilich’s steady hands on the sticks at the forefront.

“HOUSE ON FIRE” is a mix of mid-aughts Brit Rawk and Poppy, Bring Me The Horizon, and Asking Alexandria’s (Who, conveniently enough, have a song of their own dubbed “House On Fire”) brand of modern Electro-ready arena Rawk while the title track is almost an ’80’s throwback with the way the drums move and guitars glisten.

“LOVERS” is big and breezy with Radetzky lamenting being afraid of the dark when he’s alone and later on, “FIREMAN” could be the next big Pop breakout and then “HEAVEN” slows it all way down but ups the scripture in a short little ditty that’s transcendent of this earthly plane with accompanying angelic back up vox.

Spiraling out of that heavenly heap of heady Rawk comes “GHOST” which brings it all to a close but raises the excitement and intensity reaching a boiling point of fuzzed out ruckus complete with erratic beats and an all around sense of frenetic madness.

DARK arrives via Sony Music/Music For Nations on January 15th. Pre-orders can be gotten now by heading here. For the latest on Blackout Problems, follow them on the socials by heading here, here, or here.