Blackball
Super Heavy Dreamscape
Reviewed by Chris Well
On the Blackball debut Super Heavy Dreamscape, songwriter Chris Scott seems preoccupied with the futility of life without God: Set to a sonic backdrop of crisp hard rock and bitter, muscular harmonies, songs like "Doesn't Matter" and "Wither" are almost rife with resignation (giving your life to Christ isn't just the best choice, he's saying, it's the only acceptable choice). Other songs, such as the ironic "Everything is Good" and the honest "Not The Way I Want It To Be," show how rarely we can trust other people. Some will remember Scott and guitarist David Bishop from the band Precious Death, a band that held certain promise: For a heavy metal band, they were forward thinking; however, they were still locked in the heavy metal shed. Well, sometimes, all it takes is a change of scenery. Scott and Bishop seem to have found just that; they still want to rock hard, but now it's easier for them to jettison the clichés of heavy metal. Super Heavy Dreamscape is exactly what the title implies: a loud presentation of the truth straight up--our collective, subconscious fears presented to us for inspection. Our need for salvation was never made more obvious. Dare you not to flinch.