Blackrain – Untamed – Album Review
5th December 2022A long time ago, in a musical galaxy far far away, glam and sleaze rock ruled the world. Since that halcyon time, this genre slowly passed over to the dark side of cool as a vast array of new ones became stronger with the force than it. OK, enough Star Wars references, but here we have French hard sleaze rockers Black Rain proudly swimming against that tide of cool. They unashamedly make you feel as if we’re still in that wonderful pre-grunge era.
Black Rain is a new band to me, and probably the majority of you too. I was surprised to find out that Untamed is their seventh album. Their debut came out way back in 2006. Since then they have stubbornly plowed the glam rock furrow. Fronted by guitarist and vocalist Swan, this French quartet has previously toured with the likes of Alice Cooper, Scorpions, Europe and Steel Panther in the past, so they certainly know who to rub shoulders with.
The albums hard rocking title track get the album off to a raucous start. It’s one of those songs that you feel like you’ve heard before, but can’t quite place. Not a bad start at all though. The Europop keyboard intro that heralds Kiss The Sky lulls you into a false sense of security before the band comes storming in for a cracking melodic metal track. It’s one of the highlights of the album for me.
The band says that the introduction of Kissin’ Dynamite frontman Hannes Braun as a producer for this album has allowed them to finally sound like they always wanted to. He has done a fine job. There’s a sonic depth to the album that lifts many of the songs here. The talk box effect on Dawn of Hell makes for a catchy riff that really sticks in the mind.
Another high point on the album for me is the infectious Demon. Very reminiscent of Cheap Trick, it’s a great power pop hard rocker that immediately warrants further listening. This could be the album’s secret weapon to reach a larger audience. Also, Summer Jesus does share a melody very similar to Blaze Of Glory by Jon Bon Jovi, but don’t let that put you off, it’s actually pretty good, and a much better track than the one by singing teeth from New Jersey.
However, therein lies the problem with this album. Whilst it’s a largely very enjoyable album throughout, it does largely make you think that you’ve heard it somewhere before. They’re to be applauded for sticking to their musical guns, it just would’ve been nice to hear something new. But like I said, they’re not reinventing the wheel here, merely greasing it to keep it smoothly moving.
That said, this was a pretty enjoyable album from start to finish. As I mentioned above there are a few really good tracks on here. The rest of the album isn’t bad either, though does start to feel a little overlong at twelve songs and nearly an hour. However, there is plenty of promise on display here and is well worth checking out. You will be pleasantly surprised by what you hear when you do.
Score: 7/10
Tracklisting:
1- Untamed
2 – Kiss The Sky
3 – Dawn Of Hell
4 – All The Darkness
5 – Demon
6 – Summer Jesus
7 – Set The World On Fire
8 – Neon Drift
9 – Blade Of Love
10 – Raise the Glass
11 – Shut Down
12 – The End
Release Date: 25th November 2022
Label: SPV/Steamhammer
