Music Reviews

So last night I went to see one of my favorite bands to come out of the last few years, which is none other than Black Country, New Road. My history with the band has been overwhelmingly positive – I first stumbled upon their breakout LP „For the first time“ right when it came out and was hooked immediately. The building instrumentals, the dark riffs, huge crescendos, beautiful harmonies, powerful vocals and lyrical themes, everything I just love about music in general, this band had. I was even considering giving that album a perfect score innitially but decided not to, as I thought the band had even more room to grow – and I was definitely right. With their second LP „Ants From Up There“ they only built upon everything I already mentioned – the riffs were more moving, the crescendos larger and more rewarding, the suspense was on point, everything just clicked with this album. To this day it remains as one of my favorite albums of all time honestly and I was only looking forward to what they would bring to the table down the line.

And than tragedy struck… The lead singer of the band Isaac Wood announced his departure from the band. I was honestly kinda devasted by this – Isaac’s vocals were a huge part of what made BC, NR click for me in the first place. I even thought the band was splitting up because of this… But no, instead they released one of the best live albums of this year. With „Live at Bush Hall“ the band finally proved to everyone that yes, they will indeed continue making music and really amazing music at that. The band didn’t loose their charm here at all, on the contrary it feels like a complete reinvention of their sound and a natural progression for the band. Tyrel Hyde mostly, but also May Kershaw and Lewis Evans take the positions of the main singer, each on different songs and all of them work exceptionally well with their sound, it’s almost a miracle. Now with all of that out of the way, let’s get to the actual concert.

Before the concert started, they were mostly playing minecraft music, which I found to be really funny but also a really nice touch since minecraft music is amazing. Than there was the artist that was opening for the band which I forgot the name of, but they were playing a harp and singing absolutely beautifully, like the range of their vocals was from another planet, definitely recomment searching her up (I couldn’t find the name anywhere though, so it may take some digging). Than after a few random songs from the playback (including Charles Mingus of all people) the band finally showed up in the most goofy way possible, running on stage in pairs of two I think and starting to play along to some song they put on previously, it was really silly but ultimately really effective.

Now for the actual show itself – all of the songs, with two exceptions of songs I don’t have yet seen the light of day yet, were off of the new live album and not any from their frist two LPs, which was to be expected since Isaac’s departure, but it still kinda hurt a little bit that they didn’t play any of them. Still though, the songs themselves were in one word amazing – whoever did the sound engineering for the show deserves a raise, because everything just sounded so clean and smooth, it was all around a really pleasant experience just from a technical standpoint. They mostly followed the chronological structure of the live album, with the highlight for me definitely being the opener „Up Song“ – I mean when Lewis started hitting those sax notes it was already over, the crowd just exploded when the rest of the instruments kicked in, it was a really powerful opener. „The Boy“ was actually one of my biggest highlights too, the performance was so good that the song itself actually grew on me quite substantially and now it’s like one of my favorites of the whole album.

I would also like to take a moment to appriciate the constant reminders from Tyler Hyde to stay hydrated during the show, since it was REALLY hot in there. The „you’re more important than anything that’s happening on the stage right now“ was probably my favorite non-musical moment from the whole show. Also the way the members interacted with each other throughout the songs was really nice to see – it just felt like they were having a lot of fun and were all working together as one.

Another highlight for me was also the two songs „Turbines/Pigs“ (which almost made me cry if I’m being completely honest) and „Dancers“, the latter of the two being a really amazing and special moment with basically everyone in the audience singing the main hook of the song with the band, it was really moving. The show concluded with the „Up Song (Reprise)“ and just like that it was over. As the band was leaving they played the Scatman song (outdoing the goofiness of their enterance) and scrambled out of there, which I thought was honestly hilarious. But yeah, the only song off of the live album I think they didn’t play was „The Wrong Trousers“ which is honestly my least favorite on the album, so I didn’t mind it as much. I would also like to give a special shoutout to Charlie Wayne who absolutely killed it on the drums, especially on „Turbines/Pigs“ where he went just completely sicko mode on them, it was really insane. Also that one song that hasn’t officially come out yet that they played was honestly like one of my favorites of the whole show, makes me really excited for when it finally comes out, the sax on that one was like catchy on a whole nother level and the way the drums synced with everything at one point made the whole crowd start just like bouncing up and down, it was just so good.

Anyways yeah, that was my BC, NR concert experience – I forgot to mention that besides like 3 or 4 really drunk a-holes who just wouldn’t shut up at times the crowd was really respectful and super energetic, it felt like everyone was having the time of their lives. If I had to say then this was probably the best concert I ever went to just period. Really recommend seeing these guys if you can still catch them somewhere, an absolutely brilliant experience.

It only took 4 years but here we are.

The Cornflakes is a band for which I have a special place in my heart – they were the first concert I ever attended after all (not counting the one concert I went on with my parents when I was like 6 or 7). Now it’s been about 4 years since the band’s last body of work with their breakout LP „Pomoc!“ which had some obvious mixing issues and was all around really rough around the edges, but it still showed great promise for the band, especially with tracks such as „Kazatel“ or „Neznámý Hrdina“. The rough unfiltered sound with the raw vocals, heartfelt lyrics and hard-hitting breakdowns of those tracks and many more was a formula that The Cornflakes adapted here and only went on to perfect more further down the line.

Which brings us to day – after 4 years and a few singles the band finally came out with their brand new 4-track EP „Zpověď“ – so how does this one hold up? Well right off the back I’ll at least say one thing – the 4 year wait was definitely worth it at least in the mixing department. These songs sound crisp and sharp as a rock (whatever that means – point is they sounds miles better than the ones on the band’s previous project). Now this project isn’t necessarily anything all that new to the people that have been keeping up with the band’s work since all the songs from here have already been released as singles in the last few years. They do however make up for somewhat of a cohesive experience for such a short project.

Let’s start with the opener and also the title track „Zpověď“ which opens up with this triumphant riff that immediately grabs your ear. After that the rest of the instrumentation comes crashing in and it makes for one heck of an opening act. The drums are super sharp and mix really well with the riff. The chorus is also really memorable even though it’s not my favorite off the EP (don’T worry, we’ll get there). Overall it makes for a really solid opening track even though I’m not crazy about some of the verses, but the song does pick up the tempo quite a bit towards the end which kinda balances that out for me.

The follow-up track „Milióny“ is one I really enjoyed already when it released as a single. I gotta say the part that always completely sells me on this song is the key-synth bridge leading into the chorus, that has to be like one of the most experimental moments in the band’s catalogue so far and the risk payed off big time. It sounds amazing especially when paired with the guitars and the spoken word fits the mood also quite well. Also the chorus bangs quite a lot if I do say so myself. I like this one even better than the first song, an instant classic for the band right here.

Speaking of more experimental songs… The second to last song „To Jsi Ty“ has the most gorgeous intro I’ve heard not just in the band’s discography but kinda like overall just in a while? The song’s sentiment is infectious from the moments the singing kicks in. If it wasn’t for the last song on this album, this one would easily be my favorite, even though it is kinda tied for me. I have little gripes with this one, my biggest issue is that even though the eventual heavy part of the song sounds really good on a technical level, I really think the song would have benefited from being only the softer part just by itself – I like the song regardless though, definitely another big highlight.

And look, even though the closer „Bellum Iustum“ is the oldest of the songs here, so the mix is kinda rougher than the other song on here, I still think I enjoy it about the most, mostly for nostalgia reasons, but also because the song is just an absolute unhinged banger from front to back. The singing is the rawest, the breakdown is the nastiest, overall just the perfect mosh-pit song. The mixing does still stand out on this one though, so I can’t just turn a blind eye to that. Still a banger, as good as I remember it being.

So, overall what do I think of this one? If I had to call it one thing I’d call it an improvement – it’s clear that this album is just on a whole nother level quality wise compared to the last. There are still many issues I have with it, don’t get me wrong, but for what it is, I think The Cornflakes just made a really solid EP that hopefully is a sign of what’s to come (meaning hopefully an LP, pleasibegyouguysiwroteyouareviewcomeon).

-favorite tracks: Milióny, To Jsi Ty, Bellum Iustum

-least favorite tracks: Zpověď (if I had to pick)

Light 7/10