Welcome To My DNA, the new album from Blackfield, is now in stores and available for download as well. Blackfield is the highly acclaimed cooperation between Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) and singer/composer Aviv Geffen. The band was formed after a meeting in the year 2000 and since that day, the musical partnership has blossomed into a cross-cultural cooperation that has already spawned two magical albums. Blackfield 2, released in 2007 was an absolute musical pop/rock gem with outstanding songs like Epidemic and Christenings. Finally after a gap of 4 years, Blackfield have released their third album called Welcome To My DNA and after listening to it once, my conclusion was that it was not as good as their previous album. Most of the material on this album was written by Aviv - because Steven was working on his second solo album - and his writing influence is truly obvious. Another aspect of this new album that I noticed was the fact that lots of songs are filled with orchestral passages and therefore a lot of songs on this new album sound less rocky to me. On the other hand, I have to say that this album is a grower, meaning the more often you listen to it, the more you like it! The opener called Glass House is a mid tempo dreamy-like typical Blackfield song with Pink Floyd and ELO characteristics. The follow up song Go To Hell is rather “heavy”, at least if you consider the eleven words lyrics of this track, being: “Fuck you all/fuck you/I don't care.” Rising Of The Tide features a stunning melody which seems to become a trade mark of Blackfield; simply magical! Then Dissolving The Night and Far Away sound to me rather mediocre and actually a bit boring, this maybe due to the acoustic guitar parts... However the musical highlights of this album being: Blood, Zigota and DNA follow directly after these two “disappointing” songs. The super guitar hook in Blood and the aggressive riffs make this the heaviest song on the entire album; check out the four word lyric! Zigota is diverse, dreamy and features an absolutely addictive and mind boggling chorus. The last song of this TOO short album is DNA, kicking off with an acoustic intro, followed by a subtle guitar solo and lots of strings. Well, all I can say is that Wilson and Geffen did it again, three great albums in a row, and the more you listen to this new record the more you like it. In other words-it gets under your skin. The promo video for the lead single Waving - good choice by the way - is now streaming on this album's mini-site. The single will be available to download from April 11. I am certain this album will be in my top ten list of 2011! **** Martien Koolen (edited by Robert James Pashman) Where to buy? |
