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Written
by Pamela Bellmore, posted by blog admin
Black
Note Graffiti’s second studio album Volume II: Without Nothing I’m You exhibits
all of the required firepower for their style, metal/hard rock in an often
alternative vein, but they offer listeners a little more. The songwriting
driving the eleven songs on this new release are distinguished by the deceptive
simplicity of their composition, lyrical material that captures the typical
mood of the style while still embracing an intelligence you don’t often hear
from this type of music. Lead singer and second guitar player Ricardo Ortiz has
a strong delivery, full of fire and sheer muscle, but also proves himself
capable of shaking up his singing with quieter, more nuanced passages. There’s
a good combination of material on Volume 2 and some surprising risk taking that
you wouldn’t expect to hear from bands working in such a way.
“No
Love Lost” begins things with an uncompromising punch that’s full of confidence
and assertiveness you don’t often hear from band’s second albums. Ortiz gives
the lyric extra bite, but the writing is sharp and doesn’t waste even a word –
much like the arrangements maintain a resolute focus each time out. They raise the
bar even higher with the album’s second track “Such is Art”. Despite a rather
formal sounding title, “Such is Art” has a physicality that comes across from
the first and has a good mix of percussive words and intelligent grappling with
theme that isn’t often found in the genre. The songwriting focus means that the
band’s songs rarely run longer than four, four and a half minutes and they
immediately engage with listeners from their first. “Castles” exhibits their
focus honed to a fine edge with its sub-three minute running time and their
devotion to not wasting the audience’s time rewards listeners with a
physicality that few songs on Volume 2 possess. They make excellent use of
dynamics with a start-stop guitar arrangement linking up nicely with drummer
Kurt Keller and bassist Adam Nine.
“Bars
from the Cages” is one of the album’s best songs and a certain crowd pleaser.
Black Note Graffiti demonstrates, from the first, a notable penchant for strong
choruses and this is one of the best – it hits a rousing note that Volume 2
rarely reaches. The anthemic qualities of this song are never overplayed,
however, and it seems more geared to be an attention grabbing audience number
rather than an opportunity for singing along. “Why We Trust”, based on title
alone, seems like it might be skirting pretentiousness, but it’s actually one
of the deeper and more rewarding numbers on Volume 2. Ortiz, in particular,
gives one of his best singing performances on the album and invests this fine
lyric with a great deal of added meaning. They cop a bit of an old school hard
rock feel on the swinging “Natural” and Ortiz proves himself equally adept with
this style. Black Note Graffiti has seen some major lineup changes since
recording this album, namely the addition of vocalist Gabrielle Bryant, but
this release nonetheless still stands on its own as one of the year’s hardest
hitting rock releases.
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