Black Lung Post “Demons” Live Video; Begin Recording New Album
Dig this vibe. Baltimore’s Black Lung are currently in the Magpie Cage with producer J. Robbins working on their fourth full-length for release (hopefully) later this year. It is not at all the first time the two parties have collaborated, and the trio have their work cut out for them in following-up 2019’s third album, Ancients (review here), which was consistent in its black-and-white aesthetics and heavy blues with their past offerings while still reaching toward new ground in songwriting and style. They’ve apparently been sitting on at least some of the material for a while as well — not shocking, considering the state of the world — as the video below for the new song “Demons” was recorded live at Wright Way Studios with Steve Wright engineering late in 2019, intended, as noted below, as a promo for a European tour that was subsequently canceled.
So it goes. You’ll hear guitarist Dave Cavalier pushing some almost Witchcraft-style fragility in the vocals of “Demons,” and that’s cool too, but as someone who’s never seen the band live despite their having three albums out, I’ll take what I can get in terms of watching them play. Guitarist Dave Fullerton, Cavalier and drummer Elias Schutzman (the latter also of Revvnant) have a classic and organic seeming dynamic, which isn’t particularly shocking to find out given that’s how they come across on record as well, but hey, confirmation is always nice.
And whatever final version of “Demons” surfaces on their yet-untitled next full-length, the album will invariably find the band shifting that chemistry between the two guitars and the drums as well, since for the first time they’ll be working with a live bassist in Charles Walsh. As of yesterday, they were done with rhythm tracks (bass and drums, maybe also guitar?), so proceedings are proceeding.
I’ll hope to have more on the next Black Lung as they get closer to the release. Until then, a substantive teaser follows.
Enjoy:
Black Lung, “Demons” live at Wright Way Studios
Elias Schutzman on “Demons”:
“Demons” was the first song we wrote with Dave Fullerton in the band (our new guitarist). We actually recorded and filmed this video in late 2019 as promo for our 2020 European tour, which obviously never happened due to Covid. I think we play the song even better now, but this video captures the early stages of the new lineup. We’re now in the studio with producer J. Robbins tracking our next album which will definitely feature this song…
Recorded live at Wright Way Studios
Engineered and mixed by Steve Wright
Filmed by Matt Kelley
Black Lung is:
Dave Cavalier- Vocals, Guitar
Dave Fullerton- Guitar
Elias Schutzman- Drums
