Posted on: January 12, 2009 Posted by: Jay NeuFutur Comments: 0

The American Black Lung play a punk meets hardcore type of style. One could almost compare them to acts like Rise Against, although tracks like “A Pair of Cufflinks” would seem much more in the vein of sludge rock than either of the aforementioned genres. What The American Black Lung play is something that is a blend of all hard rock styles, and they put a final coating of pop gloss over their efforts to reach the largest possible audience. The band starts out strong, there is no doubting that. “Dhusty Rhodes” has the band doing much of the same as they have done on the previous track on the disc, but without much new.

The band is at a tipping point here; they can insert more in the way of variation to their music and keep things floating or they could merely recreate “A Pair of Cufflinks” a number of times; what happens on the rest of the disc? During “Teeth”, The American Black Lung change things up considerably. In this track, the band adds the angular style of a Franz Ferdinand to their hard rock meets punk and hardcore sound, and the band is talented enough to mesh everything together fairly well. The band is able to work in older styles to what is a very current and “hip” style.

The band might not be able to push one of their tracks into the realm of singles, but this album works well for establishing The American Black Lung’s sound and gives them something to work towards for their next few album. The band has a good shot at pulling down some radio play, if they can continue down the path that they started on with “And They Rode”. The one thing that seems like a problem to me with The American Black Lung is their reliance on such a small range of different sounds to fuel this album. When the band can channel Guns N Roses during “Doc Bollywood”, the band’s stock can rise, but many of the songs on this album seem to be treading the same ground. The disc barely cracks the thirty minute mark, and this shortness allows the band to escape unscathed; The American Black Lung can come back in a year or two and really put on a clinic, and individuals that were on the fence with this album can really appreciate what the band is doing then.

Top Tracks: The Romance The Rose The Jail Cell, Doc Bollywood

Rating: 5.0/10

[JMcQ]

The American Black Lung – And They Rode Their Weapons Into War / 2006 Burning House / 10 Tracks / http://www.theablband.com / http://www.burninghouserecords.com /

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