What can you say about {BLindspott} which hasn’t already been said? When it comes to metal icons from NZ, there are few who exist in the same rarefied atmosphere as these guys, and when I saw them play recently there was no doubt they were among friends who knew all the words to every song. Their new singe, Pretty Violent, is the next instalment to their forthcoming album, Volumes, and is about toxic love and the moments and emotions that go with that situation. Blindspott have that rare ability of taking incredibly heavy music and turning it into something which is more palatable to many with a commercial melodic vocal line over the top of the nu-metal groove.
There are times when this is pure metal, and then others when Damian lifts over the top and totally changes the approach, even though the rest of the guys are still pumping the noise. Just under four minutes in length, this number keeps changing and morphing as it takes us on an emotional rollercoaster with the threats of violence in one place, reconciliation there, all fraught with tension. The arrangement is sublime in that there are times when the guitars take a back seat to keyboards and drums, but when they come back, they bounce and the ground shakes beneath them. Until the album drops, I somehow feel this will be on repeat being played loud, very, very loud.
Rating: 9/10
