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All On Black – Weightless

All On Black – Weightless

Remember Razor Crusade? That first MCD was really good, but when their singer had to go fight ninja’s in the East and Ivo took over vocal duties it opened up a whole new world for them. I just loved Ivo’s voice. So when he asked me if he could send me the full length of his new band I said yes right away. He just wanted me to hear it, but after listening to it I knew I had to write a review on it. So here I am, trying to convince you, reading this, why you need to give All On Black a chance.

Let’s start with eliminating our audience first. If you’re looking for heavy breakdowns and two step moshparts, I’m not even going to try, this is not for you. The same goes for people who want to hear faster-than-the-speed-of-light riffs with over the top screaming, you’re simply not going to handle the sweetness of these songs. There’s not a whole lot of fingerpointing going on either, so I guess the oldschool is out of luck too.

So, anyone still reading? Great, I guess we eliminated all the naysayers and closed-minded people by now. Let’s get straight to  business, All On A Black is a five piece featuring (ex) members of Razor Crusade and Omission amongst others. Both bands are a lot heavier than what All On Black is doing though. Not that you’ll fall asleep during an All On Black show, but it’s all a lot sweeter and less raw. A bad thing? Not at all. Just different. To give you an idea, I can see these tracks being played on the radio without  a doubt.

Weightless has a great production but I refuse to call it sounding ‘international’. It’s such a cliché and in a way an insult to the Dutch scene. But I guess people would describe this record like that too. Not only is it full of insanely catchy choruses, the riffs itself are damn catchy too. And it’s in balance, from upbeat rockers like “Stay Away”, “Someplace Someday” and “I Know You Know” to an acoustic song like 11 September that reminded me a bit of the Get Up Kids.

Nothing to complain? Of course there is. I could have done with even more of a ‘raw’ edge here and there. But that’s just me, I’m a sucker for that, the record is fine as it is. Oh and when I read ‘Stay Away’ amongst the tracktitles I hoped for a Nirvana cover as good as the one Charles Bradley did recently. Turned out it wasn’t a Nirvana cover. Oh well. Can’t have it all right?

I guess you get the picture by now. I have no idea what labels are currently doing, but they’re clearly not paying attention, instead of waiting for the next hype to sign, you might want to try All On Black. They’re still looking for a label to release this record. Unbelievable.

In the meanwhile listen to “Won’t Last Forever” the track they’ve made available already:

[soundcloud]http://soundcloud.com/allonblack/wont-last-forever[/soundcloud]

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10 comments

  1. xroldx said on 2011-07-27

    Go and see All On Black w Hot Water Music and Make Do And Mend on August 8 in 013, Tilburg!

  2. Marijn Slot said on 2011-07-27

    Cool!! Alleen is de vergelijking met Ivo in Against Time wat beter dan de Ivo in Razor Crusade, niet?

  3. Pim said on 2011-07-27

    @ Marijn: Probably. I just listen to Razor Crusade a lot more and probably more people know about that band 😉

  4. Johan Reflections said on 2011-07-27

    Damn… da’s een goed nummer! En Ivo is echt een geweldige zanger! Ik ga zeker kijken in 013!

  5. Just Killing Time said on 2011-07-27

    Ivo is a great singer, but All On Black’s music has become a bit too radio friendly for my taste I’m affraid. I loved their first demo and especially the song Blackethic. That raw edge seems to be missing in the new material i’ve heard so far.

    If this band didn’t consist of ‘hardcore alumni’ and some people I’ve known from my local scene for a long time, I probably wouldn’t even give this another listen, to be totally honest.

    Live they still do have that rough edge though.

  6. Pim said on 2011-07-27

    Just so you know, that song ‘Blackethic’ is on this album.

  7. Just Killing Time said on 2011-07-27

    I didn’t know they rerecorded it, but the original I’m referring to is from their demo e.p. ‘We Are The Unfaithful’ from 2007. 🙂

  8. Tom said on 2011-07-28

    I am super stoked! But without a label I assume this record will not be for sale at the 013 show…

    • Just Killing Time said on 2011-07-28

      @Tom just ask one of the bandmembers, they’re constantly handing out free copies. 😉 (although I have yet to receive my copy, haha)