Shades of Black

Description

Shades of Black is an album by the American industrial band Blackhouse, released on Blacklight Records in 1998.

Certainly, while 1997 is being lauded as the year of electronic music, every cynic will agree that in a few years Christian music will launch a few Chemical Brothers and Prodigy clones, because (as ‘everyone’ knows) Christian music is perpetually late and insignificant in the larger social scope. While there is much to that statement within mainstream Christian music, one need only to look at the underground Christian scene to see some surprising standards being set. Take the new release by Blackhouse, ‘Shades Of Black’. Blackhouse bring an entirely Christian perspective over a techno/industrial landscape and not only is this record completely relevant in musical style, it is Blackhouse’s 13th album. They have been leading the way since their first release in 1984. Unfortunately, Blacklight Records is trying to push ‘Shades Of Black’ to the Nine Inch Nails/Ministry crowd. A massive error considering Blackhouse lean far more toward a rave-techno style of electronica. Blackhouse rip their way through songs like «TGII» in a manner similar to Atari Teenage Riot, yet miles away from ATR in attitude and heart. Other songs incorporate much more hip hop than punk/hardcore, separating them entirely from the pounding, heavy attack commonly associated with industrial. Blackhouse’s lyrics are of the blink and you’ll miss it type. The lyrics are quickly spoken, sung or screamed and often not very long, or intelligible. There are some exceptions though. On «Shout», Blackhouse call for a return to the original passions of rock and roll, rather than the commercially layered within most of what is thrown the consumer’s way. It is too bad Blackhouse does not include more songs like «Shout». They certainly seem to have a lot of good things to say as well as interesting observations of the industrial and techno scenes. [Rod Lobaugh, Cross Rhythms, June 1998]

Before Nine Inch Nails, before Ministry, before Circle of Dust… I was in high school. And the local college radio station had a weekly show that featured the strangest “music” this young lad had ever heard – clinks, clanks, sounds of sledgehammers and steam, synthesizers-in-pain, power-drill guitar samples, off-kilter beats, distant and disembodied vocals – in short, real industrial music. Music imitating the cold, impersonal rhythms and sounds of factories.

It’s been many years since I’ve heard “noise” industrial, so this Blackhouse album (their 11th on CD I think) took a little getting used to. I was never really a fan of the style, although I admire the attempt at creativity and nonconformity. This album didn’t win me over, either. Each song just takes a simple rhythmic idea and repeats it ad nauseam. Sure, there are a lot of groovy beats and intriguing sounds found here, from ultra-fuzzed bassbeats to unique guitar samples to German voice samples to plenty of keyboard sound manipulations, but the repetition is just too much. Many of the songs take on primitive, distorted hip-hop rhythms, and a few more are really inaccessible industrial raps. It’s only the rap songs that have more than one line of lyrics, and they’re like these:

Cuz when it comes to the world and the way that you feel
There’s only one way and one word that is real
And when you’re feelin’ fly, and when you’re feelin’ real dapper
Remember clothes don’t make the man – ayo – they’re just the wrapper

Kinda stupid, huh? Keep in mind only two songs have these type of lyrics, though, and the vocals are heavily buried in unfriendly industrial noise. The other songs are mostly instrumental, with weird, nebulous one-liners or single words scattered about (like techno).

I’m afraid I’m just too used to “fast food industrial,” as Blackhouse calls it, because this is barely good for background noise in my book. The excited, thorough, and very human explanations of each song in the liner notes helped a great deal to add personality and make the album cool to listen to a few times while thinking about the themes and emotions behind the music. Ultimately, though, the repetitive rhythms of machinery just don’t jump my battery, even with the freaky dance and hip-hop overtones. [Josh Spencer, The Phantom Tollbooth, 1998]

CD tracklist:

01. The Wrapper
02. Shout!
03. Nonstop Timebeat
04. Warp Drive
05. Kein Spass (No Fun)
06. Son Day
07. Back In The Daze
08. Buss Dat Grüv
09. Reason To Live
10. Brrrr Brrrr
11. X-Mission
12. TG II
13. Sleazy
14. I’m The Guy

Note: Available at Bandcamp: https://blackhouse.bandcamp.com/album/shades-of-black

[youtube_sc url=”dAaB9TI9SNk” title=”Blackhouse – The Wrapper” autohide=”1″ rel=”0″]