{"id":2809,"date":"2017-03-07T11:24:27","date_gmt":"2017-03-07T11:24:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-black-map-in-droves\/"},"modified":"2018-03-21T21:20:39","modified_gmt":"2018-03-21T21:20:39","slug":"review-black-map-in-droves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-black-map-in-droves\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Black Map – In Droves"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Black Map<\/b> are a bass-heavy amalgamation out of northern California, featuring Ben Flanagan of Trophy Fire, guitarist Mark Engles (Dredg) and drummer Chris Robyn (Far). What started out as a bit of studio drinking, soon blossomed into something bigger and the well-drilled power trio are now on to their accomplished second album, ‘In Droves’<\/i>.<\/p>\n

It’s pretty no-nonsense stuff from the Californians, who rely on pulsating riffs and a bass-heavy groove, to drive their musings on modern life. However, the album is bookended by the moody meanderings of ‘Transit I’<\/i> and ‘Transit III’<\/i> with ‘Transit II’<\/i> tucked firmly in the middle; presumably they are there to add atmosphere, but individually are pretty disposable.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It’s ‘Run Rabbit Run’<\/i> that kicks things off properly and is the sound of a well-integrated band with highly competent songwriting, setting out their stall of hard-edged alternative rock in emphatic style. There’s plenty to get to grips with up to the ‘Transit II’<\/i> interlude too; there’s the Muse-like ‘Octavia’<\/i>, a big slice of moody riffing that slow boils to a big chorus, while the frantic energy of ‘Ruin’<\/i> makes for a pulsating rocker. With the bass high in the mix the album has an interesting dynamic with tracks like ‘Foxglove’<\/i> and ‘Dead Ringer’<\/i> working particularly well.<\/p>\n

It continues in a similar vein after the interlude, the head-spinning bass of ‘Indoor Kid’<\/i> and the abrasive riffing of ‘No Color’<\/i> providing the highlights. Although they experiment a little with the atmospheric dark pop of ‘White Fence’<\/i>, things start to drag a little in the second half. ‘Just My Luck’<\/i> and ‘Cash for The Fears’<\/i>, for instance, are both competent tunes, but add little to the album as a whole.<\/p>\n

The overall impression of ‘In Droves’<\/i> is that of a well-oiled machine executing quality, if sonically similar tunes, which nails it frequently but never quite delivers the killer punch.<\/p>\n

3.5\/5<\/p>\n

‘In Droves’<\/i> by Black Map<\/b> is released on 10th March on Long Branch Records<\/b> \/ SPV<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Black Map<\/b> links: Website<\/a>|Facebook<\/a>|Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n

Words by Edward Layland (@EdwardLayland<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Black Map are a bass-heavy amalgamation out of northern California, featuring Ben Flanagan of Trophy Fire, guitarist Mark Engles (Dredg) and drummer Chris Robyn (Far). What started out as a bit of studio drinking, soon blossomed into something bigger and the well-drilled power trio are now on to their accomplished second album, ‘In Droves’. It’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":16169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[2086,15028,2143,1138,1137],"class_list":["post-2809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-black-map","tag-edward-layland","tag-in-droves","tag-long-branch-records","tag-spv"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nReview: Black Map - In Droves - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Black Map are a bass-heavy amalgamation out of northern California, featuring Ben Flanagan of Trophy Fire, guitarist Mark Engles (Dredg) and drummer Chris\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review: Black Map - 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