BlackLab are a Japanese duo that use the mighty fuzz pedal to create some epic doom and Under The Strawberry Moon 2.0 is their début album.
A wall of crushing fuzz snarls in “Black Moon” as it crashes its way into its big chord sequence. Echoed vocals cry from beyond the void into the darkest night. Then there are screeches and growls that seem to come from some strange subterranean passageway that lead straight to gates of the underworld.
Both guitar and drums are expertly executed by the duo and it’s a big sound for just two people. “Hidden Garden” has a slightly more psychedelic sound and for some reason reminds me slightly of Blood Ceremony in feel, if not in sound, especially in its chorus section. Battle tank guitars introduce “Spoon”, and this is where Yuko Morino’s fretwork shines as she battles against Chia Shiraishi’s pounding rhythm section. The vocals here sound almost ethereal before the chords scream in to drag you down below.
“Symptom Of The BlackLab” is all overwrought fuzz that fights its way around a battering-ram drum pattern that would not be out of place on a Boris album. By the time the riff builds, your head is swaying with doomentia. “Warm Death” starts with some classic Sabbath-style playing as guitar notes hang in the air on a huge slab of fuzz that threatens to steal your very soul and drag you to Hades. “His Name Is …” moves along at a rolling pace with a chunky guitar sound that rips into your very being as it pummels your ears at the start of the heavy metal apocalypse. A funeral dirge is the sound of “Fall And Rise” as it sludges its way out of the speakers, creating a large black mass that engulfs your living room. You feel that wherever this tracks plays, it will suck the light away to make way for legion of demons to take over. “Big Muff” starts with just that, the sound of a Big Muff pedal played viciously through a valve amp to create a Satanic sound beyond compare, and it’s the closest the duo get to sounding like SunnO))). The sound is full of low-end bass throbs that crackle around your ears and makes the guitar sound like a percussion instrument at times.Overall, Under The Strawberry Moon 2.0 is strong début album, especially if you are fans of the mighty fuzz and having you mind blown to oblivion.
-Gary Parsons-
