2005-04-12 - 23:38

Guns and Gold on 51 By Blackfire Revelation

“Long white robes, long white beards...early transvestites. Didn’t get their shaving together.”–Eddie Izzard Dressed to Kill

The thing with indie rock is that, in general, it manages to almost, but not quite, get everything together. You either have great lyrics and instrumentals to die for or you have a killer bass line and an ethereal soprano in a song about giraffes. Or, my personal favorite, delicate rhymes over phat beats delivered to us via the voice box of someone with strep throat and a bronchial infection. You’re left thinking, “Oh. Guitar lessons, please.” Or “Fire your screamer.” Or, “Hey, next time you sit down to write try pretending you’re not seventeen and that your girlfriend didn’t just dump you.” I go back and forth on whether this is one of those times.

John Fields and Hank Haney, the two members of Blackfire Revelation are talented musicians. There is some nice drumming and some good guitar work, particularly on track 1, Battle Hymn. The lyrics are well planned out, with a tight rhyme scheme, although its pretty much the same rhyme scheme throughout the whole CD. The subject matter is hopeful, if a little bit bruised. I enjoyed the smoothness of the meter in the lines, “And I want you to know/that you can change your mind/ and that those that don’t stick with you/just leave ‘em behind.”

Here’s the rub, the vocals are bland and predictable and conjure up in my mind every unfortunate Southern stereotype I know. Gold and Guns on 51, as a complete package comes off as formulaic, Jack-soaked Southern rock. Which is unfair because individually these tracks all have flavor. Yes, some of it is Jack-soaked, but leaving it at that would be to underestimate the CD and the musicians.

Track four, Preach to the Choir is my favorite off of this CD. It has a bluesy feel, and no matter what I’m doing when it comes on I always find myself swaying to it. I lost all my money/but I still got my guns. Ha, even when you’re down with this one, you’re not completely out. Lyrically, it offers us that cynical look at humanity that all critiques of modernity are laced with, Let’s preach to the choir/The choir in vain/Their songs are a plenty/But They don’t say a thing. And, I always find that to be enjoyable.

Blackfire Revelation is opening this Spring for Unsane and rumor has it they are good live. If the record is any indication, they certainly have the potential to bring down the house. They’re rolling through my city in May and I’m looking forward to checking them out. Maybe then I’ll be able to get off the fence about the CD. But, until then I hope this is just a warm-up and that in the future we’ll be hearing great things from this band. Eh.

The Dates:
Thu 4/14/05 Memphis, TN Hi Tone
Fri 4/15/05 St Louis, MO Gearbox at Lil Nicki’s
Sat 4/16/05 Chicago, IL Bottom lounge
Sun 4/17/05 Milwaukee, WI Points East
Mon 4/18/05 Minneapolis, MN 7th Street Entry
Tue 4/19/05 Des Moines, IA Vaudeville Mews
Wed 4/20/05 Kansas City, MO The Brick
Thu 4/21/05 Denton, TX Rubber Gloves
Fri 4/22/05 Austin, TX Room 710
Sat 4/23/05 Houston, TX Rudyard’s
Wed, May 11, 2005 Columbus OH Little Brothers 10pm Main support w/ Unsane Unsane, Blackfire Revelation,1point3
Thu, May 12, 2005 Lansing MI Mac’s 11pm Main support w/ Unsane Unsane, Blackfire Revelation, local
Fri, May 13, 2005 Madison WI High Noon Saloon 11pm Main support w/ Unsane Unsane, Blackfire Revelation, local
Sat, May 14, 2005 Chicago IL Empty Bottle 11pm Main support w/ Unsane Unsane, Blackfire Revelation, local
Sun, May 15, 2005 Minneapolis MN 7th Street Entry 10:30pm Main support w/ Unsane Unsane, Blackfire Revelation, local
Mon, May 16, 2005 Iowa City IA Gabe’s Oasis 10:30pm Main support w/ Unsane Unsane, Blackfire Revelation, local
Tue, May 17, 2005 Kansas City MO The Brick 10:30pm Main support w/ Unsane Unsane, Blackfire Revelation, local
Wed, May 18, 2005 St louis MO Lil Nikki’s Grill & Chill 10:30pm Main support w/ Unsane Unsane, Blackfire Revelation,Fragile Porceline Mice
Thu, May 19, 2005 Oklahoma City OK The Coservatory 11pm Main support w/ Unsane Unsane, Blackfire Revelation, Exitum, Trainlodge
Fri, May 20, 2005 Fort Worth TX Wreck Room 11pm Main support w/ Unsane Unsane, Blackfire Revelation, 2 locals
Sat, May 21, 2005 Houston TX Rudyard’s 11:30pm Main support w/ Unsane Unsane, Blackfire Revelation,Ronin King
Sun, May 22, 2005 Austin TX Emo’s Inside Room 11pm Headline Unsane, Blackfire Revelation, local
Tue, May 24, 2005 New Orleans LA One Eyed Jacks 11pm Main support w/ Unsane Unsane, Blackfire Revelation, local
Wed, May 25, 2005 Atlanta GA E.A.R.L. 10:30pm Main support w/ Unasne Unsane, Blackfire Revelation, local
Thu, May 26, 2005 Charlotte NC Casbah at Tremont Music Hall 10:30pm Main support w/ Unsane Unsane, Blackfire Revelation, local
Fri, May 27, 2005 Baltimore MD Otto Bar 11pm 3rd out of 5 bands Unsane, Pig Destroyer, Blackfire Revelation,Swarm of the lotus, Triac
Sat, May 28, 2005 Philadelphia PA The Khyber 11:30pm Main support w/ Unsane Unsane, Blackfire Revelation,Lair of Minotaur, Body Par

0 Comments

Artificial Sound for the Artificial World: Gold and Guns, Baby.

Still more noir than you are.