Black Light Burns – Cruel Melody

Limp Bizkit wrote some okay songs before turning into something godawful. The best thing about Limp Bizkit though was guitarist Wes Borland. Something that became extremely obvious when he left the band, which since has slowly faded into oblivion. Borland moved on to his first project as a solo artist and released an album under the moniker Big Dumb Face. An album that was so all over the place, it didn’t make much of an impression. He also played bass in From First To Last one forgotten Monday. So it’s fair to say the guy has spent some time in shitty bands.

But now there’s Black Light Burns and on it Borland, who sings as well as plays the guitar, sounds like a guy who has finally come into his own. Plus it helps if you’ve got talented guys like Danny Lohner and Josh Freese helping out rather than Fred Durst breathing down your neck and throwing fits.

Take some early Nine Inch Nails and some new Marilyn Manson and throw in hints of A Perfect Circle and you’ve got a pretty accurate idea of what “Cruel Melody” sounds like.
The album is off to a good start with the disturbing “Mesopotamia” and keeps it up through “Animal” and “Lie”. The rest of the album is a continuation of the first three songs with some more mellow moments here and there. Especially memorable is “I Am Where It Takes Me” which sounds like something Angelo Badalamenti could’ve written. Plus it comes with Concrete Blonde’s Johnette Napolitan helping out in the vocal department. The instrumental closer “Iodine Sky” is a little too ambient for me but hey, it’s the last song so it’s not like there’s anything after that you want to hear so just hit that fancy stop button early!

All in all I’d say that Borland did a damn good job with “Cruel Melody” and it should be interesting to see where he will take us next with Black Light Burns.
Score: 7.5 out of 10

I Am: Wolfpack

http://www.blacklightburns.com