{"id":54088,"date":"2017-02-13T08:29:36","date_gmt":"2017-02-13T13:29:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=54088"},"modified":"2017-02-13T08:29:36","modified_gmt":"2017-02-13T13:29:36","slug":"black-sites-in-monochrome-music-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2017\/black-sites-in-monochrome-music-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Sites | In Monochrome"},"content":{"rendered":"

by John Kindred<\/span>
\n– Publisher —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"Comprising some of Chicago\u2019s finest musicians from the underground Metal scene, Black Sites debut the group\u2019s first album on the Mascot Label Group.<\/p>\n

Black Sites features ex-Trial members, guitarists Mark Sugar and Ryan Bruchert, with Sugar also handling vocal duties. Also along for the ride are bassist John Picillo (Without Waves, Immortal Birds) and drummer Chris Avgerin (Autonomy, Lost Dog).<\/p>\n

The quartet of musicians has come together to release In Monochrome<\/em>. The album features nine songs that are drenched in the band\u2019s Hard Rock and Metal influences with the final, 10th track, being a cover of the Scorpions\u2019 \u201cSteamrock Fever.\u201d <\/p>\n

Black Sites\u2019 musical style offers listeners Thrash-inspired grooves, molten Metal riffs that combine with the slower tempos and thick heavy sounds of Doom Metal that is complemented by Sugar\u2019s intelligible vocals.<\/p>\n

The quite deceiving opening song, \u201cM Fisto Waltz,\u201d starts off tranquilly as an instrumental piano piece, with slightly distorted lead guitar melody leading the way before it jettisons off into a heavy melodic prelude. This shot of adrenaline keeps the ride alive for the duration of In Monochrome<\/em>. <\/p>\n

The intro track, which leads into \u201cDead Languages,\u201d gives us our first taste of Sugar\u2019s vocals. Off the bat, it is good to hear his audible voice versus the guttural, indistinguishable vocals of many of his peers. Slightly gritty and falling into the mid-timbre range, he guides us through the realm of Black Sites. While Sugar typically is the lone singer throughout the CD, the band isn\u2019t afraid to utilize vocal harmonies within the confines of the music, adding another dimension to its sound. <\/p>\n

The tonality of the guitars is grounded in the mid-range, harsh crunch that appeals to Modern metallers. As songwriters, the band\u2019s ability to meld varied genres of Metal is exceptional. They move easily between Thrash progressions to slower tempos that create Sabbath-inspired grooves. These dynamic changes keep it interesting. The band also isn\u2019t afraid to soften its sound, introducing listeners to the acoustic wanderings of \u201cHunter Gather,\u201d as the music eventually moves off to Doom-ville, offering some heavy riffing. But a brief respite with Sugar\u2019s vocal and the acoustic guitar seems to relax the reins, if just for a minute or two. They do this again on \u201cThe Tide,\u201d which is another cool acoustic-driven song.<\/p>\n

The bass and drums are easily discernable throughout In Monochrome<\/em>. From a production standpoint, a fine balance is struck between the audibility of the instrumentation and vocals.<\/p>\n

The album closes with the Scorpions\u2019 cover \u201cSteamrock Fever.\u201d The music is pretty close to the original, with a most certainly heavier rhythmic sound from the guitars. The vocals aren\u2019t Klaus Meine, so Sugar does an admirable job in that respect. <\/p>\n

Genre: Heavy Metal, Doom Metal<\/p>\n

Band:
\nMark Sugar (vocals\/guitar)
\nRyan Bruchert (guitar)
\nJohn Picillo (bass)
\nChris Avgerin (drums)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1. M Fisto Waltz
\n2. Dead Languages
\n3. Monochrome
\n4. Burning Away The Day
\n5. Hunter Gatherer
\n6. Watching You Fall
\n7. Locked Out – Shut Down
\n8. In The Woods
\n9. The Tides
\n10. Steamrock Fever<\/p>\n

Label: Mascot Label Group<\/p>\n

Web: http:\/\/blacksitesband.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: [usr 7 size=20]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by John Kindred – Publisher — Comprising some of Chicago\u2019s finest musicians from the underground Metal scene, Black Sites debut the group\u2019s first album on the Mascot Label Group. Black Sites features ex-Trial members, guitarists […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":54090,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15128],"tags":[13141,1093,2491,13142,8733,12354],"class_list":{"0":"post-54088","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2017","8":"tag-black-sites","9":"tag-doom-metal","10":"tag-heavy-metal","11":"tag-in-monochrome","12":"tag-mascot-label-group","13":"tag-music-review"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54088","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=54088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}