POISONBLACK

A Dead Heavy Day

Century Media/ CD

Promoted with an excellent video for the track "Bear The Cross", the third album of Finnish gothic rockers POISONBLACK is doing very well on the music market. Within first week of its availability „Lust Stained Despair” successor entered Finish chart at position no. 6. Rather unexpected but worthy of note here. Of course, the band's status in music industry also has grown a lot since they released „Escapexstacy” album back in 2003, this new album is a next step forward, but they still don't deserve to be described as „the 2nd SENTENCED” in my opinion.

Yeah, listening to this album (even not so carefully), you can easily notice that POISONBLACK are moving almost into the same direction. Very specific approach to melodic structures, firmly distorted guitar sound, and finally- Ville's characteristic voice. Even if Laihiala does not intend to copy his previous team (sometimes I get the impression he's trying to push POISONBLACK to a slightly new direction, focusing more on a dynamic rock pulse, but still not enough to be completely free from such associations) SENTENCED will be continuously coming to your mind during listening sessions of „A Heavy Dead Day”. A conclusion? This is the third album already so it's safe to say they can't/ don't want to follow their own path. Well... So could they fill the gap SENTENCED left behind? No, of course not! It doesn't disqualify POISONBLACK. However, it puts the band in a fairly awkward position. Copies have always been worse than originals, also in that case.

Of course, if you are able to listen to this album without any prejudice, this is definitely a piece of work that cannot be passed over. We've got a very decent music here. Except for a pretty naive and corny ballad track called „X” and some shitty keyboard lines appearing in a few songs ((fortunately, their role on this album isn't too big), „A Heavy Dead Day” contains a bunch of very cool songs. In some of them POISONBLACK focuses primarily on what headbangers and booze drinkers are looking for: direct, heavy riffing smoothly combined with dynamic rhytmics and catchy melodies. Listen to mind-blowing "Human Compost", powerful "Diane" (riffs in this track simply crush!) or very powerful "Lowlife" (what a great solo!). There are also some tracks exploring more melancholic territories, like the title one, "The Days Between" and almost eight minutes long "Only You Can Tear Me Apart" especially. Dramatic choruses, memorable guitar harmonies, harsh yet profoundly emotional vocal parts of Ville, that's all what they need to keep your hearts softened. So, if you don't expect a groundbreaking album, the third dose of poison from POISONBLACK's camp is worth checking out. Play it loud!

7/12