Black Elk - Always a Six, Never a Nine

Ever since the self-titled debut from Black Elk came out in ’06 I don’t think I’ve been recommended a band by people more so than them. I really don’t remember when I first got around to listening to their debut, but I know it took awhile. I’d have to dig through the archive of mixes because I know as soon as I did a song from it ended up on one of them. All of those people telling me about Black Elk were certainly right in the end.

Black Elk have returned this year with the release of their second album Always a Six, Never a Nine, which is once again being handled by Crucial Blast. Not straying too far from what made their debut such a successful one, the band once again delivers an ample amount of excellent noise-rock with a bit of a metal/mathy edge. It seems that they draw plenty of comparisons to bands like Jesus Lizard, Hammerhead, etc. While that definitely makes for the center of their sound, Black Elk definitely have a slicker and maybe more calculated style which goes from the music all the way to the production. While I am definitely not a fan of most things “clean”, Black Elk definitely still manage to dirty it up plenty on Always a Six, Never a Nine. The vocals in particular from singer Tom Glose end up being a very nice contrast to the bands more intricate and quicker guitar portions, as he manages to use his warbling style (when not screaming) of vocals to great effect. Overall, the album seems like a logical step for the band not changing things up dramatically while still managing to flesh out their songs some in process giving them room to display their songwriting abilities more.

Black Elk – She Pulled Machete [MP3]

For those interested in picking up Always a Six, Never a Nine then definitely head on over to Crucial Blast to do so, especially if any of you out there were into the first album at all. Enjoy!