Black Knives

The Thirteenth Hour

Written by: MBC on 21/12/2014 23:42:54

Black Knives is a French hardcore band that released its debut album “The Thirteenth Hour” earlier this year. According to the band’s press release Black Knives live by the code of “we love it heavy, we love it loud”, and that the music is for fans of various big names in hardcore such as Hatebreed, Terror and Madball. Black Knives definitely sounds like a slew of other hardcore acts, and the we love it heavy.. cliché seems fitting for a band whose music is basically one hackneyed hardcore song after the next.

“The Thirteenth Hour” consists of eleven tracks of simple riffs, breakdowns and a stereotypical tough guy attitude. The album has a raw production that fits the music well, and the band seems to have a lot of energy, commitment and passion for hardcore, which I complement them for. However, Black Knives’ music is so unoriginal and uninspired that there is little reason why people should choose this band, instead of many others in the genre. Vocalist Eric Estrade screams in a strained high pitch that seems to be coming straight from his throat. His vocals are very raw and thus compliment the music well, but become annoying to listen to after a while due to the lack of thickness and power in his voice. The same goes for the band’s music in general. The guitarists keep repeating the same similar sounding chug riffs, breakdowns seem endless and little emphasis is put on varying the delivery in general.

In a couple of instances Black Knives turn away from the formula such as on “A Moving Force In The Shadow” where they go into more melodic hardcore/post-hardcore territory or on the quite beautiful instrumental track “Taking Back What’s Ours” that consists of a few simple guitar notes supplied with strings. It is moments like these which give the album some much needed character and keeps it from becoming too tedious to listen to. Black Knives certainly know their hardcore, and they do show promise on this album. But maybe they should put more emphasis on developing their own identity and become better song writers rather than trying to emulate what has already been done better before by others. “The Thirteenth Hour” is a decent, but rather forgettable album.

6

Download: Take The Best, A Moving Force In The Shadow, Behind The Doors, Make It Happen
For the fans of: Trapped Under Ice, Death Before Dishonor, Born From Pain, Terror
Listen: Facebook

Release date 15.06.2014
Spook Records

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