Photo: William Felch (Wombat Fire)
Ann Arbor, Michigan-based progressive metal/melodic alt-rock outfit Black Note Graffiti releases their fourth album, Resist The Divide, produced by heavyweight producer Josh Schroder (Lorna Shore, King 810, Butcher Babies).
Black Note Graffiti comprises Gabrielle-Gloria (lead vocals, keyboards), Ricardo Ortiz (guitar, vocals), Kris Keller (guitar, vocals), Adam Nine (bass), and Kurt Keller (percussion). The band’s unique sound is highlighted by powerful vocals, massive riffs, and potent drums.
Encompassing 11 tracks, Resist The Divide begins with the colossal “Place You Lie,” thick with chunky, growling guitars topped by Gabrielle-Gloria’s ferocious vocals, surely one of the premier vocalists in rock.
Entry points include “The Source,” an arena-sized song that hits listeners like a sledgehammer to the diaphragm. Dreamier vocal textures ride over pummeling percussion and rampaging, treacly guitars. There’s an urgent ache to the vocals that give the lyrics portentous flavors.
The back and forth up and down motion of “Undertones” forges an electrifying rhythmic flow as heavy, muscular guitars bark out dark, viscous layers of sound, underscoring Gabrielle-Gloria’s venomous, snarling tones.
Laced with blistering, heaving guitars, “Alive” brims with unrelenting surfaces of black energy, like a raging hurricane. The vocals are brutal yet convey hints of elegance. A persona favorite because of Gabrielle-Gloria’s melodic vocals, “Elusive” ramps up to thrumming levels, where the vocals take on howling consistency.
More luminous but still trenchant, “Shade” shifts coloration, going from lighter to edgy coagulated guitars. The harmonics cut like dull knives, imbuing the tune with eccentric movement. On “Paradox,” Gabrielle-Gloria reveals the range of her formidable voice – at times melodic, at other times elevating to grimacing timbres.
The closing track, “Sigh to Sight” features soft, low-slung, shimmering guitars topped by Gabrielle-Gloria’s gentle, almost ethereal, voice, infusing the lyrics with warm tenderness.
The new album from Black Note Graffiti is loaded with brawny guitars and undeniable mass, as well as the marvelous voice of Gabrielle-Gloria.
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