{"id":18034,"date":"2014-03-13T00:01:39","date_gmt":"2014-03-13T00:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=18034"},"modified":"2014-03-13T22:52:02","modified_gmt":"2014-03-13T22:52:02","slug":"album-review-blackbird-of-heroes-and-enemies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-blackbird-of-heroes-and-enemies\/","title":{"rendered":"BLACKBIRD – Of Heroes And Enemies (2014) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

BLACKBIRD
Of Heroes And Enemies<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nPure Rock (2014)<\/span>
Rating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Blackbird care not for modern dynamics, or creating a new style of metal; they merely just knuckle down, crank the amps up to 666 and rock the fuck out. Of Heroes And Enemies<\/em> is the sort of well-oiled album you\u2019d slap on before going out, and then realising that your night isn\u2019t that great, you merely come back and slap it back on, such is its ballsy, alcoholic fury. <\/p>\n

There is no need for the complicated things in life when you have Germany\u2019s Blackbird. This rocking quartet has basically turned around, and said, \u201cOkay, so we love AC\/DC, we love Guns N\u2019 Roses… Let\u2019s just put it all together in a blender and make a cocktail and that\u2019ll be our sound.\u201d<\/p>\n

Right, so the band never actually said this, but when you take a trip through the ten tracks on offer here you\u2019ll be reaching for the Jack Daniels quicker than you can scream \u201cI\u2019m back in blaaaack…!\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

Well, I can hear some of you sceptics out there asking \u201cWhy on earth do we need another band churning out formulaic riffs, generic vocals and covering topics that have been vomited time and time again since the inception of metal?\u201d Well, my only response, as is always the case with this sort of stuff, is that if it\u2019s done correctly then it can make for a sweaty experience. <\/p>\n

Sure, Blackbird aren\u2019t doing anything new and if, like me, you\u2019re a huge fan of The Last Vegas and Buckcherry, then you might think that this opus pales considerably in comparison. If, like me though, you also sometimes just want to throw the television out of the hotel (or living room!) window to a soundtrack of booze, birds and good ol\u2019 fashioned cock swingin\u2019 rock, then you have to give this album a spin. <\/p>\n

And yes, before you start moaning again, I realise that vocalist Angus Dersim sounds like AC\/DC\u2019s Brian Johnson, especially on opener \u2018Fire Your Guns\u2019. I also realise that the riffs throughout this album sound like so many other bands \u2013 bands who were doing this sort of thing years ago, in fact \u2013 ie Rhino Bucket, Buckcherry, (Johnny Crash, anyone?) etc, but also realise that this album offers up some really good solid numbers in the form of \u2018Not About You\u2019, \u2018Ride With The Rockers\u2019 and \u2018Deuce\u2019. <\/p>\n

Dersim is joined by rhythm guitarist Bora Karakus, bassist Fritzi Delli and drummer Steffen T., and what they lack in originality can sure as hell be made up by their sheer determination and insistence. Of course, whether that\u2019s enough to carve out a career we can only wait and see. After all, there were thousands of bands doing this type of boogie-based rock years ago and most of them were better than these guys, but I\u2019m not going to argue with the struttin\u2019 \u2018Don\u2019t Fool Me\u2019 or the Faster Pussycat-meets-AC\/DC scratch of \u2018Dusk Till Dawn\u2019. By the time closer \u2018Right To Rock\u2019 reaches its final crash, bang wallop, you may at least find your foot tapping uncontrollably. <\/p>\n

Of Heroes And Enemies<\/em> is not of the calibre of The Last Vegas, Beautiful Creatures and so on, and it is a record that is about as AC\/DC as it gets but let us not get complex. Blackbird exist to rock \u2019n\u2019 roll. While I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll make a few enemies along the way, they may also be perceived as heroes to others, so fair play to them for havin\u2019 the balls.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BLACKBIRDOf Heroes And Enemies Pure Rock (2014)Rating: 7\/10 Blackbird care not for modern dynamics, or creating a new style of metal; they merely just knuckle down, crank the amps up to 666 and rock the fuck out. Of Heroes And Enemies is the sort of well-oiled album you\u2019d slap on before going out, and then […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1134],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-blackbird"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18034"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18037,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18034\/revisions\/18037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}