Label: Firecum Records

Date: May 25th, 2021

If you’re going to mix a huge pile of different influences together, at least go ahead and make your songs good, catchy, memorable, stick out… That’s the short lesson we’re being taught by Black Flare, a debutant from Lisbon, Portugal.

Indeed, they have taken a whole lot into their sound. Generally speaking, one could easily link Black Flare to Newsted. His latest solo effort sounds quite similar. Dirty rock ‘n’ rolling heavy metal, it should be called.

Not to simplify the matter, try using a Motorhead foundation, place on top of it some punk (like the Brits ever lacked it), a touch of stoner / doom metal and there you have it. Some vocal harmonies even reminded me of System Of A Down.

With all that outside involvement, one may come to a conclusion that the Portuguese trio bit much more than they can chew. Especially for a young band that should still be searching for proper ways of expression. But not this time.

The self-titled debut by Black Flare runs as smooth as possible. Naturally, as they have opted for quite a rough style of music, there’s a lot of rust laying on top of this piece of iron, but the coherence of materials used is still solid.

What’s more, like I mentioned in the beginning, the band offers more than decent tracks throughout the album. If you choose to give these newcomers a chance, you will get nine songs (within the forty minute frame) that will haunt you. At least for a while. Speaking the truth, “Black Flare” is by no means a perfect album, but it remains damn good. For a debutant, well above the average.

But the most important conclusion to be taken from this album is that Black Flare is obviously set on the right way. They know what they are doing, that’s for sure. They know how to do it. Another proven point. To my ears, their music just needs a few minor touches to make the band a regular ticking bomb that should not go under some big label’s radar.

Additional plus to “Black Flare” is the brilliant cover artwork. This type of art noir is not commonly used in combination with such music. But it does warn about what you can expect on the record. Hopefully you won’t think of Lacrimosa or something along those lines and pass by this excellent record.