The Black Angels, from Austin, Texas, are probably my favourite modern rock band. Their music has been described as a mixture of throw-back, psychedelic rock and the buzzing wall-of-sound that characterizes shoegazer rock music. To date, they have released five studio albums and a number of EPs, all in my opinion of excellent quality.
The music of the Black Angels came into my life at a time of extreme turbulence and angst for me in the year 2006. One of my favourite rock bands at the time, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, released a year-end list of their favourite albums of that year on their website. Included in that list was “Passover”, the debut album from a band called the Black Angels. With that title in mind (possibly scrawled on paper), I went to a local record store and was able to find a copy of the album in CD format. With such track titles as “The Prodigal Sun” and “Sniper at the Gates of Heaven”, I was immediately intrigued and drawn into this dark world. I would be transfixed upon listening and continuously played the album for a long time after that.
Dealing with themes such as insanity, warfare, and paranoia, the music and lyrical content seemed to gel with my troubled mindset at the time. The music itself embodied everything I had come to appreciate about rock music from my earliest experiences of listening: 1960s psychedelic rock, bluesy, catchy guitar riffs, and melodic hooks that were extremely pleasing to the ear.
My favourite track on Passover is “Black Grease”. Its opening guitar riff is intensely rhythmic with the ability to induce a shamanic trance. It recalls the guitar chops of Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix. The lyrical content of this song is craftily deceptive, trading the words “give” and “kill” to surprising variation of intent and tone. The “grease” in the title perhaps reflects the greasy distortion of the incessant, driving guitar riff.
Passover had a profound effect on my psyche and personal growth at the time. It is one of the most jarring, electrifying, and shocking rock albums I have ever heard.
The band would go on to release four more studio albums up to the time of this writing. Their most recent, Death Song, is every bit as powerful as their initial release. The band is no stranger to consistency.
I have seen the band several times live and their shows are spectacular and exciting. As a person who can be introverted and paranoid at times, their music has always spoken to me in a profound way. The fact that the band is relatively unknown is a crime. Not only are they intense and heavy musically, but they combine that intensity and heaviness with a keen knowledge of song-craft and the ability to come up with extremely catchy melodies.
If you’re looking for a refreshment from the bland, cookie-cutter nature of current commercial music, dive into the musical career of the Black Angels and be prepared to go on a journey that shatters the boundaries of the light and dark side of your soul. Warning: it may change you forever.
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