|
Review Navigator   FeaturesReviews
 | Black CrossWidows Bloody Widows2004 Initial 
 Review by: Jesse See others by this writer ![[staff]](/images/icons/staffsticker.gif){kind=icon}
Black Cross (link) Only registered users can post comments 
 
Published on May 28th 2004
To be fair, I hate B-sides/ compilation / greatest hits albums. Usually you're stuck with crap that wasn't good enough to make it on regular CDs, and since the material is from all over, the production value varies lots (and this ANNOYS THE FUCK OUT OF ME). That being said, this album is a collection of unreleased material from Black Cross when they were still called Black Widows, hence the album title. THAT being said, this album rips. Completely knocks my socks off. The production stays fairly consistent throughout the entire album. Oops, I forgot to say what it sounds like. Black Cross plays hardcore-punk in the way of Black Flag or a less technical version of modern day hardcore-punk heroes (at least in my opinion) Akimbo. It's simple, it's 4-8 chords per song, it's loud, it's fast, it's short (the longest song is 2:30). It's great. These are all old B-sides and the like, but the songs still flow together with even a little bit of overflow into the next song. And it will eat your face. While this album totally rocks, it's hard to pick out the best songs. Since they're all so short, the album sort of just feels like a 24 minute, 21 second song with a lot of tempo changes. Which brings up another point. The reason that this band is able to captivate me so is the amount of tempo changes it has interwoven in their 1-2 minute songs. It's like being slapped with a fat herring (what's with all the fish references?) when you least expect it. When it's all over, you want to listen to it more. And then another time. And then maybe listen to something else. But in a few more days, you'll listen to it again. And again. Definitely worth the purchase, and I know this CD has made me want to get their other stuff. Go listen to it. Do it. Or I'll slap you like a bitch. Because that's what Black Cross would have me do.
People who liked this also liked:      ![Thoughts of Ionesco - The Scar Is Our Watermark [CD/DVD]](/images/covers/thumb/thoughts_of_ionesco-the_scar_is_our_watermark.jpg)     Please login or register to post comments. What are the benefits of having a Punknews.org account?
Wow, Jesse. You're as oblivious to math rock as I am to hip-hop. Math rock has nothing to do with prog. tempo changes short songs? i guess..but its still pretty boring i mean come charles bronsons "youth attack" came out 7 fucking years ok...i mean christt man it hasn't gotten any better No. That's just wrong. Yes (the band) is math rock. Techy math rock that sounds nothing like these guys. See: Akimbo reviews on www.punknews.org this band is awesome. not all the songs were b-sides, though, some were just meant for 7" singles. regardless, everything theyve done is excellent. Yes, I did. I'm messing up names on this board recently. black cross rules. if it has the whole EP, i might not buy it. the EP is sweet (probably better than the f ull length), but it's not worth paying full price for a cd when i have 58.33% of it already. You meant NWA, right? More like, TWA: Straight Out of Compton. i love black cross. people should also check out The National Acrobat: TNA Recordings. that collection is sweet too. especially when the production value varies lots (and this ANNOYS THE FUCK OUT OF ME). Yeah, this has all the songs from the EP. I really like this band, they're like an even better version of By The Grace Of God who fucking ripped in their own right. does that include all the songs from the stops a beating heart EP (the song titles escape me right now, so i can't check)? Tracklisting: what songs are on this? Yeah but you're bi! Don't think I don't know that. I'm just disproving your point of powerchords only count as one chord. So HA! I guess if you're playing rock. But the movements are the same. It's the simplest form of guitar playing. You can still play real chords, but really, actual chords don't sound good with oldschool hardcore. That's dumb. Each powerchord is the basic for a "regular" chord. You can't even play a lot of chords without them being powerchords on the guitar. I only count powerchords as one chord, so this band probably uses 1-3 chords per song, if more than one. |
