The band’s bio tells us that Black .44 play hard hitting riff based metal, but also flirt with stoner metal in their own melodic way while spicing up their music with a pinch of that southern groove. The Finnish band, hailing from Helsinki certainly know how to slam home a riff, and there’s a grunge element to some of the riffage. Across the album’s nine tracks, Black 44 meld the drawling vocals and heavyweight chug of Alice in Chains with Queens of the Stone Age and Motorhead.
‘You fucking asshole / you had it coming’, Jason croons in the breakdown on ‘Overcome’ before everything slams back in again. You know what? It works a treat. ‘The Red Saint’ is perhaps the album’s weakest track by virtue of its all-too obvious Metallica-inspired stylings. However, it’s by no means enough to detract from the fact ‘No Blanks’ is angry and aggressive, and succeeds in keeping its sights on the power of recognisable song structures or a cyclical, four-chord riff. Combining grit and groove, it’s a solid album, and a lot better than the band’s press photos would lead you to believe.
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Black .44 Online
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