Blacklab Premiere “Black Moon” from Under a Strawberry Moon 2.0
Osaka, Japan, duo Blacklab make their debut July 20 on New Heavy Sounds with Under a Strawberry Moon 2.0. The album is a remix of the two-piece’s first outing — hence the “2.0” — which saw a limited self-release last year. And even before one gets around to the finale of “Big Muff,” which digs into nearly 10 minutes of distortion driven, presumably, by the effects pedal of the same name, the band’s onslaught of doomed extremity has already made itself felt in the screams of the churning “Black Moon,” the liberal amount of feedback strewn throughout the eight included tracks, and even the empty space that populates the verse of “Warm Death” before the and-you-thought-“Hidden Garden”-was-abrasive chorus takes hold. Black Sabbath are a factor on that earlier track, that is, on “Hidden Garden,” as well as on the titular nod in “Symptom of the Blacklab,” but even the most familiar of riffs are given new life and new impact through the blown-out fashion in which they’re used and further influence drawn from the likes of earlier Kylesa, way-gone Boris, Napalm Death, Burning Witch and others too numerous and/or obliterated to list.
Ultimately, you can namedrop whoever you want — the point is that Blacklab use these sounds to their own ends, not the other way around. They’re not playing to genre so much as bending genre to the shape they want it to take, even in “Symptom of the Blacklab,” which directly engages the piece it references in its name before sprinting off elsewhere for a two-minute run that’s the shortest on the record but carrying no less impact for that. Comprised of guitarist/vocalist Yuko Morino and drummer Chia Shiraishi, Blacklab arrive obviously schooled in the ways of doom, but that only seems to grant them the foundation to branch out. Whether it’s the crashing end of “Warm Death” or the blower fuzz of “His Name Is” that follows, Blacklab‘s chief interest seems to be in pushing the limits of style and finding a place where chaos meets control while still holding firm to a heavy groove.
So do they get there? Short version: yes. Particularly as their debut, and even in the New Heavy Sounds redux form, Under a Strawberry Moon 2.0 is a significant statement of aesthetic purpose. In its volume-worshiping sensibilities and its distortion-on-distortion shove, it has moments that sound like they’re genuinely about to fall apart, and yet before they finish with the aforementioned “Big Muff,” they offer the relatively straightforward, melodic-vocal-topped “Fall and Rise,” seeming to be in direct conversation in its first half with the marching rhythms of Acid King, and there’s never any doubt of the consciousness at work behind their craft as the track moves into more visceral chug and growling past its midpoint. Whether brutal or serene, Under a Strawberry Moon 2.0 approaches its influences with a pickaxe and proves capable of giving the front-to-back listening experience a feeling of extremity that ultimately serves to unite the varied material and give Blacklab all the more context for the breadth of their work overall. They seem to make the most of it here, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they push even further into their own space next time out.
I have the pleasure today of hosting opener “Black Moon” as a premiere ahead of the album’s release. Please find it below, followed by more info on the band from the PR wire, and please enjoy if you dare:
Blacklab describe themselves as ‘the Dark Witch Doom Duo from Osaka Japan’. However, when it comes to witches, they are more the spectral Sadako from ‘The Ring’ than campy ‘Countess Dracula’. Chilling cool with built in overdrive.
Yuko and Chia are undoubtedly immersed in the Japanese stoner doom scene, and it’s no surprise that with this first offering, they’ve pulled out a calling card that is as ‘in yer face’ and arresting as anything out there. A full frontal assault of distorted riffs, howls and ghostly vocals, as well as bags of riot grrl attitude and lo-fi bravado.
Being nominally a ‘Doom’ band, expect a bucket load of Sabbath worship for sure, but Blacklab have a vibe and experimental undertow akin more to their countrymen ‘Boris’ and the souped up lo-fi fuzz of Ty Segall or Comets On Fire. Tracks like ‘Black Moon’ ‘Hidden Garden’ ‘Spoon’ ‘Symptom Of The Blacklab’ (which starts like Sabbath … then thrashes somewhere else), twist, burn and boil into the red. ‘His Name Is …’ is a churning chunky throb. ‘Spoon’ and ‘Warm Death’ offer moments of relief and crushing noise. And ‘Big Muff’ is … well … 9 minutes of drum-less fuzz, that will probably do serious damage to your speakers. What’s not to love?
This first Blacklab release on NHS, is a version of their ‘Under The Strawberry Moon’ album which was released in tiny numbers on CD only in Japan, a pull together of previous tracks and new songs recorded over 2017. But the NHS variant is different. Wayne Adams (Death Pedals, Shitwife, Vodun, Casual Nun) noise guru at Bear Bites Horse Studio, has remixed the tracks to maximum effect, upping the fuzz and weight of the originals, to create Under The Strawberry Moon 2.0. exclusively for NHS. You will not be disappointed.
It’s an album full of promise, and we at New Heavy Sounds are super stoked to be working with ‘the Dark Witch Doom Duo from Osaka Japan’. Expect a new album when they have crawled back out of their televisions.
Blacklab are: Yuko Morino, guitar and vocals. Chia Shiraishi, drums.
Under The Strawberry Moon 2.0 will land on July 20th. Available as limited edition Black/Orange vinyl which includes a free CD and download of the whole album. Also available in regular CD and digital formats.
Under a Strawberry Moon preorder at New Heavy Sounds
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