Blackhole- Dead Hearts [Album]
 

Let me take you back to the last Gallows tour, the location being the Stoke date… The place was packed having people being turned away (which considering it’s Stoke is a rarity) and the crowd were just ready for pure intensity of a night of hardcore punk (and Bizzle… yes… Bizzle!).

Cue Blackhole starting the madness, mosh pits and hardcore dancing. These guys were the pure works, sure the majority of the crowd had no clue who Blackhole were but they also didn’t care and were just were having fun. I turned to a friend and said that I thought I had just seen one of the rising bands to come out of the genre in the UK over the next year…

In fact I decided to go and see Blackhole again at the same venue, this time on the Ghost Of A Thousand headline tour in support of their last album. The crowd were more of the hardcore fans this time around (also smaller this time around I noticed, but once again the size didn’t matter, if we were all having a good time who cares?) Blackhole made my comment to my friend on the Gallows gig remain even more true after this night too.

Based on my previous experiences with Blackhole I anticipated ‘Dead Hearts’ greatly and when it starts with a 1:32 song that includes a line about the Elephant Man I knew I was in for a wild ride!

I’ve also been saying to a few friends of mine that hardcore punk seems to be slowly returning to the UK properly over the past few years with bands like The Plight, The Ghost Of A Thousand , Hexes etc. The genre is gaining in popularity due to kids wanting something that speaks to them rather then the pop-punk that we see that’s only marketed to one key demographic... teenage girls.

The musicianship of the guitars supplied by Andreas and Nick along with Alex and Max’s skills on drum and bass give the edge that is starting to show again and also captures the craziness of the world around us. Blackhole have also really captured the live shows on record in both the sound and production which is very rare and an excellent thing to hear!

Richard vocally also shows the power in his voice that backs up the lyrics about the world being scared of the change that is forthcoming. Songs like ‘Witches’ can be told as great metaphors for the things going wrong with the country such as the economy etc. However there will be some people that will say, due to the connection with Gallows that Blackhole are just trying to be in their shadow. Those people blatantly haven’t been listening hard enough to the album. In fact, "Dead Hearts" is an entirely different being. It may touch on certain topics but it makes you want to have a good time head banging to the music as well as discussing al the doom and gloom.

My comment to my friend that I brought up at the beginning of the review has not only kept true with "Dead Hearts" but my confidence in Blackhole getting the recognition they deserve has only increased and they deserve it all for sure.