The Black Swan Epilogue

I didn’t really have many high hopes given this group’s name…of course, the first thing that popped into my head pertaining to the name “BIBLEBLACK” is that HEAVEN AND HELL song, and that there haven’t been many, if any, good original acts that get their moniker from a song title (refer to the cheese-fest that is DREAM EVIL for a prime example), and no matter how many praises the group could have heaped upon them that possible cheapening effect could still act as a deterrent.

So I guess I should ask…what should I expect from the likes of BIBLEBLACK?

From the first track one would notice absolutely NO HEAVEN AND HELL worship…unless Iommi, Dio and company took a bitter, melodic thrash metal approach with plenty of speed, intensity, and symphonic synthwork. All inhibitions of rip-offery were thrown out the window as this listener was engrossed in the power this disc portrays. Seriously…there’s plenty to offer and plenty to enjoy here in this “Black Swan Epilogue” disc, where crushing guitar riffs, blackened keyboards, lilty melodic death leads and acidic hisses combine to show that combination of serious pomposity and silly rhetoric that makes for an enjoyable listen. Such is in full swing with the likes of “Mourning Becomes Me”, “I Am Legion”, and “Stigma Diabolic”, where surprises lurk in every corner of each track.

All in all this disc totally surprised me and killed every bit of lowered expectation I’d have for a band of this name. Believe me when I say that this will end up getting all sorts of repeated listens in the future. Well done, boy-os.

Bibleblack is the newest project of guitarist Mike Wead, best known for his work in King Diamond and Memento Mori. He is joined by other relatively obscure veterans in this new project which is probably just something for Wead to do between King Diamond albums.

The overall sound is pretty basic melodic death metal, with all of the simplistic song structures and twin guitar melodies that one would expect from a band classified as such. Mike Wead has a few solos sprinkled throughout the album, but most weren't really memorable enough for me to recall them.

Really, the only song that I enjoyed was "Mourning Becomes Me". It has a very strong harmonized lead theme that shows up throughout the song as well as a respectable guitar solo. The rest of the songs are, as mentioned before, basic melodic death metal. The riffs are forgettable and there’s nothing present here that has not been done before many times. The rest of the band just does what is asked of them and singer Kacper Rozanski fails to inject any emotion (or anything at all, really) into the songs that he fills with his by-the-numbers growling. Even the several clean vocal guest spots do nothing to salvage this.

What we basically have here is a worthless side-project by a good guitarist. It is safe to say that it is not worth one’s hard-earned cash. I am sure that the band was able to scratch an itch by putting this album out, and it is fine for a musician to explore new territory, but if Bibleblack wants to be taken seriously, they need to put out better material than this.

(Originally published at www.metal-temple.com)