{"id":23528,"date":"2012-11-07T07:06:34","date_gmt":"2012-11-07T12:06:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=23528"},"modified":"2013-02-05T16:43:17","modified_gmt":"2013-02-05T21:43:17","slug":"black-country-communion-afterglow-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2012\/black-country-communion-afterglow-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Country Communion | Afterglow<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Steve Patrick<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"BlackWhile the band itself might be going through some inner turmoil, Black Country Communion have still managed to release a quality album in their third release Afterglow<\/em>. Vocalist and bassist Glenn Hughes and guitar virtuoso Joe Bonamassa have unfortunately had a very public spat over the band\u2019s future touring plans, but thankfully these issues came to light after Afterglow<\/em> had already been created.<\/p>\n

The record begins with the explosive \u201cBig Train\u201d which is propelled by a meaty Hughes bass riff. Hughes also showcases his otherworldly high-pitched vocals in the chorus. Bonamassa also delivers with a fiery wah pedal solo. Next up is \u201cThis Is Your Time\u201d which is an album stand-out due to the monster guitar riff that dominates the entire track. Also, Bonamassa seemed to experiment with the solo on this one.<\/p>\n

\u201cMidnight Sun\u201d is driven by a Derek Sherinian keyboard part that would bring a smile to mid-80s Eddie Van Halen\u2019s face. Hughes\u2019 pounding bass can be heard quite prominently on this one and begins to give away that Hughes was the primary writer on this album. Allegedly, Bonamassa\u2019s rigorous solo recording and touring schedule prevented him from contributing much to the songwriting.<\/p>\n

The album\u2019s lead single \u201cConfessor\u201d comes next and is quite possibly the climax of the whole record. Hughes\u2019s bass and Jason Bonham\u2019s thunderous drums are in perfect tandem. Also, Bonamassa performs quite possibly the most blistering solo of his career that is then followed by a classic Hammond organ lead from Sherinian. <\/p>\n

\u201cCry Freedom\u201d seems like a forced attempt at a Hughes\/Bonamassa dual vocal track for the sake of consistency. The previous two BCC albums had songs that featured Bonamassa more prominently on vocals and even singing solo lead vocals (i.e. \u201cSong of Yesterday\u201d or \u201cThe Battle for Hadrian\u2019s Wall\u201d). Since Hughes dominated the writing aspect on this record, this dynamic was somewhat lost on Afterglow and makes \u201cCry Freedom\u201d feel like an afterthought. <\/p>\n

The title track is clearly a special song to Hughes and his vocal performance only enforces that fact. Hughes shows off his vocal prowess and depth by effortlessly shifting from a whisper early in the track to a primal roar at the song\u2019s crescendo. Sherinian lays down some keyboard-delivered orchestral arrangements that add to the otherworldly atmosphere of \u201cAfterglow.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cDandelion\u201d will only feed the inevitable Led Zeppelin comparisons that this band has been subjected to since their inception. The primary melody in the background on this track is a dead-ringer for \u201cRamble On,\u201d not to mention that Bonham\u2019s powerful drumming harkens back to the work of his father. Hughes does his best Paul Rodgers impersonation on the soulful track \u201cCommon Man.\u201d This song is one of the several instances where each of the band\u2019s members takes a solo to highlight their musical virtuosity.<\/p>\n

The only weak spots on the album are found in some slower songs late in track listing that drag the momentum of the music down. For example, \u201cThe Circle\u201d and \u201cThe Giver\u201d are both solid compositions and the band sounds great on them, but they just do not seem to fit very well with their placement in the track order. <\/p>\n

Afterglow<\/em> wraps up with the song \u201cCrawl\u201d which easily sounds like it could have been an outtake from Physical Graffiti. Sherinian\u2019s ethereal keyboards steal the show on this one, particularly while dueling with Bonamassa\u2019s intense guitar work.<\/p>\n

While slightly less focused and cohesive as its predecessors, Afterglow<\/em> is still a remarkable feat for a band operating in the classic rock genre in 2012. Hopefully whatever internal issues there may be within the band are dealt with in a positive and speedy manner because bands producing material of quality like BCC are desperately needed and their absence on the scene would be sorely missed.<\/p>\n

Genre: Hard Rock<\/p>\n

Band:
\nGlenn Hughes (vocals, bass)
\nJoe Bonamassa (guitar, vocals)
\nDerek Sherinian (keyboards)
\nJason Bonham (drums)<\/p>\n

Tracklisting:
\n1. Big Train
\n2. This Is Your Time
\n3. Midnight Sun
\n4. Confessor
\n5. Cry Freedom
\n6. Afterglow
\n7. Dandelion
\n8. The Circle
\n9. Common Man
\n10. The Giver
\n11. Crawl<\/p>\n

Label: J&R Adventures<\/p>\n

Webpage: www.bccommunion.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 8\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Steve Patrick – Senior Columnist — While the band itself might be going through some inner turmoil, Black Country Communion have still managed to release a quality album in their third release Afterglow. Vocalist […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6772],"tags":[4228,1275,1103,2996,3814],"class_list":{"0":"post-23528","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-arcrvws2012","7":"tag-derek-sherinian","8":"tag-glenn-hughes","9":"tag-hard-rock","10":"tag-jason-bonham","11":"tag-joe-bonamassa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23528\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}