Album Review: Blaqk Audio - Bright Black Heaven

Blaqk Audio
Bright Black Heaven
Rating: Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It

It is with albums like this I wish I had a better gradation between ratings. Sort of a Meh and 1/2 or Yeah Daddy Kinda Make Me Sorta Want It, where an album just doesn't neatly fit in a category. Blaqk Audio's new album Bright Black Heaven is definitely one of those records that I hate myself for liking, but like it despite myself. Mixing 80s synth pop and industrial with trashy Euro-trance, Bright Black Heaven is the cheesiest record of the year, and does everything in its power to make you like it. And although half the time I am shaking my head with all the uber-hyper beats and overload of swirling synth hooks, the record is so damn catchy you can't fight it. The duo is made up of AFI members Davey Havok and Jade Puget, which means they are not strangers to over-the-top, dramatic music, but here trade the goth-pop of their main band for strictly electronic flavors.

Bright Black Heaven actually works better when it goes completely over-the-top. "Fade To White" is a blizkrieg of 160 BPM and splurting synth lines.



"Let's Be Honest" sounds like that bevy of Depeche Mode imitators from the 80s like Camouflage, but still is too damn hooky to dismiss, featuring a great chorus and strong vocal from Havok.



"Bon Voyeurs" adds some needed guitar textures over pulsating beats and thumping basslines.



While "Say Red" is so furious and fast you can barely keep up with it, but has a thrilling back end breakdown that shows the band's great sense of dramatics.



And despite all the fireworks and overkill, there are some moments where the band can slow things down and still make strong statements. Closer "Ill-Lit Ships" is a gorgeous ballad, with a tender vocal from Havok, and a lovely melancholic lilt on the chorus.



While "Bliss" has a dark undercurrent of early NIN industrial pathos. I love its moodiness and quieter nature.



The rest of the tracks sort of tow the line between bland and inoffensive synth pop ("Cold War"), silly Euro bounce ("Everybody's Friends), to ultimately uninvolving ("The Witness"). But despite these tracks that wear my patience out, the silly lyrics, and everything-but-the-kitchen-sink production style, I can't stop listening to this record. It is fun and dumb and just makes you bob your head up and down. Sometimes it is good to have records like this, that you can just play and enjoy without things being so serious.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.