Before I begin this review for the sake of disclosure I would like to inform all readers that I have met all the members of Black Emerald and they helped my former band produce a demo on which I provided vocals. However, I haven’t had contact with the band for a few years.
Of Reading’s vibrant metal scene, few bands seem more respected than Black Emerald. While they haven’t had the success of a band like Sylosis, Black Emerald’s quality has been recognised by the organisers of Bloodstock’s Metal to the Masses competition earning them a spot on the New Blood stage in 2013. With all this momentum behind them, Black Emerald need to deliver a good debut album to continue their growth.
Thankfully, Hell Can’t Handle All of Us is a solid slab of stoner rock, with forays into doomy, thrashy or proggy terrains throughout the album. Black Emerald pack each song with at many head bobbing, bluesy riffs. The lyrics on the album are also excellent, especially on B.O.D. which subverts the usual stoner stereotype and comes across as an anti-drug jam. Black Emerald are also excellent at crafting interesting song structures. They always add a twist towards the end of a song, filling each song with a pleasant surprise, just as the song might become predictable. A particularly good example is giving the drums a double time feel in the last chorus of One for the Road.
Despite the solid performances there are a few minor gripes I have with this album. The first being that the bass is too low in the mix. In stoner rock, the groove is provided by the interplay between bass and drums, so I shouldn’t have to actively listen for the bass to hear what it’s doing. Also, final track Revelations is a three-minute, spacey soundscape that, I feel, doesn’t add anything to the album. It is a bit of a let-down following on from Jonestown, which is undeniable the best track on the album and would have been an excellent end point for a solid album.
Jonestown is a masterpiece. This nigh ten-minute, prog-stoner track brings the dynamism and excellent song structures from the rest of the album to a whole new level. While this may sound off putting is all you were looking for were great riffs, Black Emerald pack every section with some of the best riffs on the album. The song nearly reaches the six-minute mark following a simple verse chorus structure before veering into more progressive sections, but those first six minutes are carried by the strength of the song itself, it feels like the progressive movement at the end is just a pleasant addition to an already stellar song.
Overall, Black Emerald have delivered an album full of infectious riffing and ambitious song structure experimentation. Hell Can’t Handle All of Us has its faults but it’s exciting to think of what Black Emerald might deliver next time around. They’ve positioned themselves for great success in future.
Highlights: B.O.D., Jonestown, One for the Road
Hell Can’t Handle All of Us is out 10th February 2018
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