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Whirlwind Of Mad Men
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Whirlwind Of Mad Men |
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| Black Hole are a progressive heavy metal band from France formed in 1995, releasing two demo's - 'Victim Of Illusion' (2000) and 'Children Of The Sun' (2008) - and two albums - 'Lost World' (2018) and 'Whirlwind Of Mad Men', released in 2022... | ||||||
| ...featuring an incredible fourteen songs across a stunning seventy minutes play time. The bands sound has grown and matured from their debut of four years ago - it's bigger, beefier, and more bombastic than ever! Incorporating elements of traditional, power, and symphonic metal, Black Hole are armed and ready to take to the international stage and blow the minds of metal heads all over the world. If you're a fan of bands such as Stratovarius, Powerwolf and Iron Maiden - then you're gonna love these Frenchmen. Bringing the album to life is the heavy hitting, power driven 'Chasing The Kraken' - from the anticipation fuelled first forty seconds to the thundering gallop, 'Chasing The Kraken' is a red hot scorcher of an opening salvo, setting the tone for the hour that is yet to come. I really get the feeling from just one song in, that this album could be something rather special. And as the pace and power increases tenfold with 'Walking With The Devil' - methinks I was right. The power driven power metal style the band are portraying is miles away from their "progressive metal" tag. The opening double salvo has shown so much energy, they could power France for decades! | ||||||
| What a stunning start to the album - an album that continues to stun with the symphonic metal edged 'Dark Horizon'. And a thunder, fire and brimstone feeling that is reined back in a touch by the band showing their progressive leanings for the first time, Mighty and melodic, 'Dark Horizon' is devastatingly good - the title song 'Whirlwind Of Mad Men' rocketing in at a ferocious pace, with some guitar shredding of the highest order. And the glorious gallop that 'Whirlwind Of Mad Men' (the song) adopts is just superb - the intensity of the album as strong now as it was when it began. I dunno what Black Hole have been eating and drinking during the four years since their debut, but whatever it is has turned them into a world class outfit - the new album opening with a magnificent quadruple. And even at this early stage, with just a quarter of the album gone, I reckon we're listening to Album Of The Year material right here. With elegance and poise, the band motor on with majestic swagger of 'The Legend Of Justine' - and a mid tempo march of melodic metal to put some of the biggest names in heavy metal well and truly in the shade. The growth of the band from their debut is incredible... | ||||||
| ...am I listening to the same band? Let me check! Yep, same band...'My Precious Dream' the most elegant and hymn-like song heard so far. The songs majesty is marvellous, 'My Precious Dream' getting heavier as it strolls on, oozing the guise of an opera's show stopping finale, and the standing ovation that follows. Black Hole are performing at the top of their game, pulling out all the stops to deliver a breath taking album of high quality. A crescendo building intro builds anticipation - and quite rightly so. For at one and a half minutes in, 'Never Surrender' blasts off and never looks back! The sparkling pace and power resembling symphonic power metal at its very best - Black Hole delivering the fastest song heard on the album so far. And with a one hundred percent head bang ability to keep the mosh pits very happy, 'Never Surrender' is a stunner of a tune! And the stunners just keep on coming - this time, the progressive power metaller 'Breaking The Rules' taking centre stage. And with intensity at an all time high too! Head bangingly addictive, 'Breaking The Rules' shows a turn of pace that belies the bands progressive nature - but that's a good thing, for 'Whirlwind Of Mad Men' (the album) has quickly become one of my favourite albums of the year. | ||||||
| With symphonic elements mixed with a doom style foot stomp, 'Line Of Sight' is a crushing cacophony of heavy power metal. And when 'Line Of Sight' bursts into life, all doom is dropped in favour of the traditional foot on the monitor gallop - all the while retaining its overall heaviness. What a glorious mood and tone changing journey of metal. Black Hole genre hopping like a small child playing hopscotch! Electrifying pace and guitar shredding greet the listener as 'My Friend' gets underway and rumbles on at high tempo with an incredible amount of energy. The band unrelenting in their intense display of intensity - Black Hole keeping you hooked and never letting go! And why would you wanna go anyway, especially when the metal is this fucking good. The majestic and elegant mid tempo march returns in emphatic style for 'Deliverance', a ground shuddering heaviness shaking the very foundations you're standing on! Black Hole running around the heavy metal genre, often diving into other genres, taking inspiration and sound to bolster their arsenal. And what an arsenal it is! The band becoming quite the finished article. | ||||||
| A mellow hymn-like feel fills the air, as 'No Return' floats in like we're heading for a direct hit in ballad country - and we sort of are. And for regular readers that know my opinion of ballads on metal albums - well, every rule has its exceptions, with Black Hole gaining a pass here. Because the album has been so fucking good, the band could have included a pop song and I would still have given them a pass! And now for the albums final double header - two cover songs. First up is 'Fear Of The Dark' by Iron Maiden, taken from the bands 1992 album 'Fear Of The Dark'. And what a red hot scorching cover it is! Identical pace, power, and oomph, Black Hole add power and symphonic metal elements to align the songs sound to the rest of the album. But it's definitely 'Fear Of The Dark' for sure - the band haven't altered it in any other way. And the same is true for the second cover, 'Dream On' by Aerosmith, taken from the bands self titled debut album from 1973 - were any members of Black Hole even born back then! Even I was only three! Again the band have added the same elements as the previous cover, but have remained true to the originals power ballad feel. Maybe seen as bonus songs, these are both great cover versions, and have ended 'Whirlwind Of Mad Men' (the album) on a very high note. | ||||||
| Overall, a superb seventy minutes of power, progressive, and symphonic metal, 'Whirlwind Of Mad Men' is a terrific listen. | ||||||
| Review by Iron Mathew Collins | ||||||
| Reviewed for Metal Gods TV | ||||||
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| "catchy and infectious heavy metal, incorporating elements of the power, epic and glory genres to deliver a feel good album that will plant big smiles on fans faces" Read Review | ||||||
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