Black Lakes - For All We’ve Left Behind

Album review by, Accidental Music Reviewer

Black Lakes, the Welsh six piece alt-rock powerhouse release their debut album on 22nd February. “For All We’ve Left Behind” is a striking and bold advancement in the evolution of this band who refuse to conform and aim to stretch the boundaries of modern alternative rock and progressive metal.

Vast and epic sounding in scale, the noise, mood and overall vibe can only be described as immense. Black Lakes are an innovative band who do not stick to any set rules or formula made by others. They are intent on forging their own path and making their music their way. With this outstanding album I firmly believe they have achieved that.

This is powerful, all consuming alt-rock. It is dark, stark and yet completely uplifting. These guys play like their lives depend on it. Big sounding rock anthems full of atmosphere, attitude, melodic riffs, pounding rhythms with deep soulful and emotional vocals that really tie the whole package together.

Black Lakes have taken alt-rock to a whole new level in my opinion. They have twisted it and updated this subgenre with a huge sound and by mixing a whole range of different musical styles which has resulted in this magnificent sounding record. This blend of rock has many different facets to it. Nu-metal, alt-rock, symphonic and heavy ram raiding classic rock collide together to give Black Lakes a unique sound that makes them stand out from the crowd. Going into battle with four guitars definitely helps. Coupled with the excellent production and mixing this album sounds amazing in all aspects.

This collection of songs was forged during the darkest of times during the pandemic. The tracks are a powerful and moving indictment of the human spirit when at their lowest and the need to get back up again and fight on. All of these songs are emotionally charged, thought provoking and thoroughly entertaining.

The degrees of heaviness in the tracks fluctuates from gut punching, then right up to tall building demolition levels, which is what I like because it keeps the listener on their toes.

Will Preston has an amazing vocal style. He can belt out (and I really mean Belt) hard rock anthems like anyone else out there. He has a powerful metal roar and he can also tone it down to a sweet, melodic and emotional level. All the traits of a truly talented lead singer. In fact the whole band sound like talented musicians who are constantly evolving and improving. The future is looking promising for Black Lakes.

“For All We’ve Left Behind” is a superbly put together album. The standard of all the tracks is through the roof! There are absolutely no filler tracks on this at all. Even the short instrumental opening track “Exordium” is a rip-roaring symphonic tour de force. After which it all goes upwards from there.

To really appreciate how good this record is I think it will take a few play throughs for it all to really sink in. Picking a favourite track at this early stage is nigh on impossible. They are all that good.

“Avorice”, “Dissident” and “The Divide” really got my attention as hard hitting, multi-layered anthems. “Death Throne” is a phenomenal track that really sums up how awe inspiring this band is. It has everything; killer metal riffs, stadium ready drumming and anthemic, rallying vocals from Will. Simply put, this is a monster track in all senses of the word.

In recent previous reviews I have commented on the extremely high standard of albums being released in the first two months of this year. This album is no exception and at the moment it stands near the top of my personal album rankings so far. This is great news for Black Lakes, but must be met with trepidation for any bands planning on releasing material this year. This band and others have set the bar extremely high and they will be tough to top.

This band are from Chepstow and are proving to cement the unbelievably high quality of bands coming out of Wales at the moment. It truly is remarkable that so many brilliant grass roots rock bands are emerging from the principality right now. If there was ever a time to “big up” my Welsh ancestry, then this is it, Bach!

The songcraft and musicianship on the whole record will simply blow you away. This album is a great achievement for this band and if they carry on in this vein, then there can be no stopping them.

I know I have dished out a few Five Out Of Fives recently but I assure you that this is not me going soft in my old age,. This album and others like Scarlet Rebels for example (also Welsh) is evidence of the extremely high quality of alt-rock being produced in this country at the moment. “All That We’ve Left Behind” is a truly remarkable album that needs to be embraced, lauded and enjoyed by genuine music fans far and wide.

And that is the reason I am awarding this album 5 out of 5.

Official website: www.blacklakes.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/blacklakes

Instagram: www.instagram.com/blacklakes.uk @blacklakes.uk

Twitter: www.twitter.com/blacklakesuk @blacklakesuk

YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/blacklakes

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