It is no coincidence that South Wales five-piece Black Lakes were a last-minute call-up to the Sunday at Bloodstock Festival. Their Modern Metal encapsulates many of the genres that were piercing the airwaves over that fine weekend. Whilst I can hear the elitists state that they are a ‘Download’ band, whatever that means, the dark edge that shrouds their music fits with the very ethos of the Catton Park festival.
Black Lakes – Dead Gods
Release Date: Out Now
Words: Paul Hutchings
Dead Gods is their second album and follows 2022’s debut For All We’ve Left Behind. It is the natural progression from that release, with a more crafted sound that combines contemporary production with the legendary Romesh Dodangoda once more at the helm and a grit that retains the band’s roots.
The music is anthemic, the instruments allow room to breathe and flourish, and the musicianship is, as one would expect, better.
At the heart of the album is Will Preston’s anguished vocals. His range flits from Chester Bennington to Eddie Vedder, the Nu-Metal edge of the band’s sound on tracks such as Burn, both retrospective and contemporary. It is impossible to avoid the Linkin Park / Slipknot comparisons on this and other tracks, but Black Lakes are anything but stuck in the past.
It is the combination of styles that makes them more interesting than many bands, with the dual guitars of James Rowland and Scott Bradshaw bringing heavy riffs to the party.
The groove of H.A.T.E. kicks things off, a vibrant rocker that tips the nod to countrymen Florence Black with a potent fuzzed-up riff that grabs you early. It is a powerful introduction to the album and paves the way neatly for what is to come. This an immediate example of how the band have developed, and one that grabs the attention straight away.
Black Lakes have kept things controlled throughout Dead Gods. The songs are fast, furious, and relatively short, with only two songs tipping the four-minute mark. Soaring harmonies have long been a trademark of the band, and they bring it early on Rapture which provides a more melodic angular approach.
Preston’s vocals swirl in the inferno the band create whilst the stop-start battery of single Hurricane, with its huge breakdowns, brings a vibrantly progressive and technical feel, throwing another dimension into the band’s songwriting. Despite its Djent style, it’s possibly the most commercial song here.
Underpinning the album is the driving and pulsating bass lines of Lee Morris and the reassuring solidity of Dafydd Fuller’s drumming. Both provide the anchor which holds everything in place. Regardless of the style that Black Lakes adopt, their music is formidable, driven by huge riffs that flesh out the songs with gusto.
Every good album contains that central pillar, the song that everything else hangs off. Dead Gods is that song. It’s gloriously huge, complete with symphonic elements that provide yet another direction. It is melancholic, dramatic, compelling and captivating. Slower than most of the songs on the album, it is the one that pulls on the heartstrings, an emotionally charged epic, no less.
Fans will already be familiar with singles White Cliffs and Burn, the latter the most recent release and another with a hook that edges it toward the commercial, dare I say, almost radio-friendly path. Thick riffs and more delicious harmonies combine to draw the listener in close. You will be humming the melody of this one after a single listen.
Ten tracks in total, but there is no filler as the finish is in sight. Dark Glass and The Fallen both stretch the sinews, blending a heaviness in atmosphere as well as musical delivery before the finale of Dark Before Dawn.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Black Lakes have left a killer to finish. It is a classic, emotionally charged piece of work that builds slowly, starting with electronica and Preston in tandem with the big guitar sound that slowly eases into the song.
Will this break Black Lakes through to the next level? One can only hope.
They have moulded a sound that should appeal to those early Gothic fans as well as those who favour NWOCR. The music is new, vibrant and refreshing.
If this is the sound of Modern Metal, then I am all in. With an album launch on 6 September, which I will be covering, it is evident that Black Lakes are pushing hard to get through to the next stage.
