Black Honey (Self-Titled Album Review)

Brand new band with a brand new sound?

This band had only a small presence in the music scene when they started releasing music a few years ago but the radio got behind their big poppy choruses and gave them some air play later in the day and at introducing events.

Making dark grunge and alternative music with interesting synthpop and dance elements keep Black Honey sounding fresher than most up and coming artists. This innovative sound marks, in my opinion, the next steps towards bringing rock and pop back together, in a way that hasn't been done since LCD Soundsystem's debut in 2005. This might be a wild claim to make and for a lot of the album it isn't entirely true but if you listen to the epic single "Midnight" you may understand what I'm getting at. Firstly, it has a slightly off-kilter song structure with a lengthy bridge section that breaks up the massive pop verses and chorus. From the beginning it's exciting, fast moving and at only 1:15 seconds, or about a third of the way through the song, there is a post-chorus that leads into the aforementioned bridge and then the fantastic, club-like middle 8. This is slightly reminiscent of Daft Punk crossed with Chvrches and it sounds amazing.

On every single song there is a memorable chorus, more often than not it's huge and poppy. Take "I Only Hurt The Ones I Love" or "Whatever Happened To You_", intense alternative rock songs that embrace pop enough to have a huge singalong chorus. This is the way forward for rock to cross back into the mainstream. Even their slower songs completely destroy any competition. "Blue Romance" is a tasteful, grungy ballad with a retro vibe to the chorus and gorgeous singing and melody.

The lyrics aren't anything new in subject matter but lead singer Izzy Phillips rules every song, backed by powerful instrumentals from the rest of the band and herself too as she plays guitar alongside Chris Ostler. With two great guitarists the album was bound to have some excellent indie rock tracks and in particular the song "Into The Nightmare" delivers with a huge sound all the way through as one of the catchiest, most fun songs of the year.

That's what Black Honey gets right: perfectly balancing the fun and the intense, the pop and the grunge, the synthesizers and the guitars. They are a band that I believe will get bigger in the future because they truly deserve it and push for it. Overall this spectacular debut is getting an 8 out of 10 and perhaps a chance of getting somewhere on my year end list.

Best Songs:
I Only Hurt The Ones I Love, Midnight, Blue Romance, Crowded City, Hello Today, Into The Nightmare, Just Calling

Worst Song/s:
Wasting Time