ALBUM REVIEW: Weight Of The World – Black Atlas
When people think of stoner or sludge metal they normally think of the southern states of America rather than towns in the Eastern counties of England. This is something that the boys in BLACK ATLAS are setting out to change with their debut full length release Weight Of The World.
Album opener I’m Not Dead sets the tone perfectly for the rest of the album and shows the listener exactly what BLACK ATLAS are all about right out of the gate. The colossal, heavy guitar riff will set up camp in anyone’s cranium and the water tight rhythm section will force heads to bang along. The vocal performance from Mikey Ward sounds like something that Ozzy Osbourne would have laid down back in his heyday and contrasts the low-end walls of fuzz and thick bass tone perfectly. Despite the initial impression of the track being pure audible testosterone the guitar duo of Ward and Peter Hunt quickly throw that perception out of the window and show that there is a bank of technical prowess and guitar based melody on offer here with a wonderful guitar break followed by a screaming, wah-soaked guitar solo to see the track.
Long Man leans more on the band’s sludge metal influences at the outset with a dirty sounding distorted guitar riff which steps into mid-tempo groove. The vocals drone a little more on this song and successfully add another dimension to the melody that flows through this album in the same way that you would expect from one of the bands major influences ALICE IN CHAINS. The bass guitar is again very prominent in the mix and plays off of the thumping drum beat to get the audience nodding along subconsciously and the guitar riff that ties this track together is simple, yet effective and for that sole reason is one that will stay with you long after the song itself has ended.
Incoming Waves opens with a haunting MACHINE HEAD styled guitar introduction before giving way to a slow, crushing doom metal styled riff that just goes to show that sometimes less is more and simplicity can lead to real power. The vocals on this track appear to have a little something extra behind them and an even greater emotive presence with Ward showing a real snarl and large amount of grit in his delivery. The instrumentation of the track grows throughout and is added to by the inventive, wandering bass line from Simon Wilson and simplistic, sustained notes from the lead guitar of Hunt which both add to the grandeur of the proceedings.
Deadweight continues with the doom metal influences with a tremendous BLACK SABBATH-esque riff sounding like it could have come from the fingers of Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler themselves. The melody of the song links in with brilliant groove and provides one of the most radio friendly tracks on the album without sacrificing any of the hard rock and metal influences that are so vital to the BLACK ATLAS sound. The guitar solo in the latter stages of the song is particularly impressive and comes across almost as if the band simply flicked on the recorder during a jam session, making everything feel natural.
Piece By Piece is another great track and really works well as an album closer. The bass follows the guitar riffs in the introduction and creates another excellent head banging moment. This track includes everything that has made this album so enjoyable in one hit. Wilson‘s bass work is once again very prominent in the mix and sounds brilliant with the distorted effect, being used in a way that adds to the overall dirty sound. The guitars are unpolished and unforgiving. Screaming when they need to scream and provide the hooks and heaviness required for the audience that the band are aiming for. The drums often go under the radar on an album like this, but they are so well written and recorded that they tie everything together neatly and provide the backbone that is so necessary to carry the band on.
The overall mixing has been done in such a way that all of the instruments have room to breathe and as a result you feel the full warmth and fullness of the drum sound, the low-end rumbling basslines and the heavily fuzzed guitars whilst not sacrificing the clarity of the vocals which is all too common with music of this ilk. The feedback sits underneath everything and ties it all together. This album is a wonderful starting point for a relatively new band and shows the true potential that they hold. When a band shows this level of song writing this early in their career like BLACK ATLAS have with Weight Of The World it fills you with intrigue as to what the band could be when they begin to step outside of their comfort zone and begin to add more dimensions to their sound. A little fine tuning in certain areas and a little more adventure in their sound this band could be on to something truly special.
Rating: 8/10
Weight Of The World is out now via self-release.
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