"Barbed Wire Soul" (Peaceville)

Review by Richard Stuart

As you no doubt already know, this is Jeff Walker's 'new' band. In fact, I think 3 out of the 4 Blackstar bandmembers are ex-Carcass. The album has 11 tracks and lasts for almost 44 minutes.

The music sort of takes up from where Carcass' 'Swansong' left off, but I'd say that Blackstar sounds a bit more lively, and on the whole this album has more memorable hooks and riffs. There are also a few surprises, such as the saxophone in 'Rock 'N' Roll Circus' and 'Waste Of Space' - the latter song also including some other brass instruments and whatnot. The songs have groove and a rock feel, but the music's still quite heavy, the riffs and such reminding me of Black Sabbath. People will forever argue about what to call this music - Death Rock? A modern interpretation of traditional Heavy Metal? But I'm sure you get the idea.

Nowadays Jeff Walker semi-sings his trademark rasping vocals - a similar approach to mid-era Paradise Lost, perhaps. There's also a rare burst of 'woah-oh' style clean singing in a couple of songs. As with Carcass, Blackstar are part of 'the scene,' but they're still able to take a step to the side for a minute and inject a little irony into their songs. Unfortunetly there are no lyrics included in the inlay, but their thanks list and who-played-what 'cast of characters' is quite amusing (for instance, "girly tambourine and pink blouse cowbell by Dave 'Teenage Fanclub' Buchanan.") The best songs here include 'Revolution Of The Heart,' 'Waste Of Space,' 'Deep Wound,' 'Better The Devil' and 'Instrumental' (which isn't one. An instrumental, that is). Funnily enough, all the songs I just mentioned are from the latter half of the album, but the whole thing's good throughout. The album finishes with a charming speech sample ("fuck you everybody and good night") which is followed by a few seconds of noise. All in all, I'd say this is worth your while investigating, but if you're a die-hard fan of the early Carcass material and you hated 'Swansong,' then you'll probably want to give it a miss. Personally I was pleasantly surprised to find this album better, catchier and more memorable than I expected.

Rating: between 8 and 8 and a half out of 10.