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The New Black

II: Better In Black

Written by: PP on 24/01/2011 02:08:23

The New Black are basically Germany's answer to your typical radio friendly modern rock band you'll meet in pretty much any state within the US. They're also aggressively marketed with catchphrases such as "just imagine Black Label Society inviting the Nickelback guy over for some Thin Lizzy covers, all dressed up in Pantera shirts.". While that goes a long way describing how The New Black sound like, their sophomore album "II: Better In Black" is essentially not very different from the output of bands like Theory Of A Deadman, Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin, and the rest of the slightly heavier bands from the Nickelback crew. No wonder they earned an opening slot for AC/DC in Germany.

The key difference between the Germans and their more famous counterparts from across the pond is clear: they are far less cocky. While the sound certainly follows a simple verse/bridge/chorus structure all the way through, and they also rely on big, anthemic choruses to a great extent, the "look bitches, I'm a rock star" attitude doesn't appear to exist with this band. Their songs are also far more riff-driven, and if it's even possible in this genre, experimental, given the heavy usage of pedal and addition of things like harmonica and acoustic guitars in places for variation. In this sense, they resemble Alter Bridge, though the vocalist is a dead ringer for any of the other bands I've already mentioned in this review already.

A song like "Into Modesty" is designed to be a big stadium anthem, complete with an instantly catchy chorus in the vein of the big boys across the pond. It's good, but not exactly ambitious. Like I've mentioned a ton of times before, I'm a sucker for this sort of music so I don't really mind, but even as a fan of hard rock / radio rock in general, I have to admit that "II: Better In Black" is only decent, losing the competition quite clearly to their American peers. What The New Black are missing is a couple of rock solid singles that'd qualify them for some big time airplay on the radio waves, then the rest of the songs can be standard hard rock for all I care.

Download: Into Modesty
For the fans of: Alter Bridge, Theory Of A Deadman, Breaking Benjamin, Three Days Grace
Listen: Myspace

Release date 21.01.2010
AFM Records