Blackwood is a hard rock band from Nashville, Tennessee that formed in 2021 composed of Chris O’Brien, David Dicks, Keith White and Steve Burgess. The band got to work and started to record music. They released four songs in 2022.
The band plays hard rock for the most part that is accessible and would appeal to a large demographic. I started my journey with “Inundated One” which begins with killer guitar. The drums start to rev up and you can tell it’s about to explode. It doesn't take long for the vocals to come in and I can say there is a lot of passion in the delivery. There’s a sense of urgency to the vocals which focuses your attention. The band sounds tight, the song is dynamic and perhaps best of all this song feels like one long adrenaline rush. I loved the ’80s style scream around the two-minute mark. Wow - what a song. It will get your heart pumping. Up next is “Train” and oh my does this song hit hard. It just sounds heavy in every sense of the word. I was engaged with the guitar tone and loved the syncopated pacing on the verse. This part reminded me a little of the band Tool. As the song progresses layers are added and the intensity increases with every passing second. The band has a metronome-like timing but there is still a groove. They reach some epic crescendos and the last thirty seconds is a wall of sounds that shifts and mutates. It’s pretty incredible stuff. “Lose It All” has a little more of an ’80s metal flavor. Something about the opening riff and the atmosphere made me feel this way. This is perhaps a little more pensive and there are some clean guitar parts as well. Once the bridge and hook comes it almost sounds like the band goes from the ’80s to the ’90s. The guitar parts cut like a knife through the songs and are again very dynamic from beginning to end. Given the previous material I wasn’t about to think “Lullaby” sounded like a lullaby. That being said, it's much different than the previous songs. This very much felt like a ballad. The verse is warm and heartfelt. The vocal delivery sounds very different from the previous song. The chorus sounds huge. This is the type of song where people bring out their lighters and hold them to the sky. It’s emotive and the first song that might make you shed a tear given the mood you’re in. The production with these songs is exceptional. It’s radio quality. I think the band is off to a fantastic start. These songs hit me the first time I heard them and I think you might have the same reaction.
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