Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
If you have something to say, then say it, or as old journalists used to insist on quoting The Duke of Wellington, “Publish and be damned”.
There is no sense in being coy in a world that has lost its way, in which has embraced the vacuous void of human impression, in which we have allowed, permitted, atrocities and carnage to take hold in our name, whilst slowly, unmistakably, seeing our souls wither, still conscious but barely able to withstand the pressure placed on its fragile shell-like existence.
We Remain, we endure because we must bring order to what we have created in shame and hubris, and however we are inspired to put the world back in its rightful place, free of evil, filled with laughter, learning and peace, then as one of Australia’s most insightful and creative bands, Carbon Black, insist on their latest offering, We Remain, and we must continue to do so until every wrong has been straightened out.
A colossus of an album, a genuine behemoth wrestling at the top of the bill in the heavyweight department, Carbon Black, as well as a sublime appearance by the legendary Tim “Ripper” Owens on the track Under Order, seek and fulfil their passion through a series of punches that are filled with grit, resolve, diligence, and ones that the listener must accept with gratitude as the statement of truths is revealed.
We have lived though extraordinary times, no one has been immune, no one has got off scot-free, and yet we persist, and we have dug deep into personal reserves, we are bamboozled by ongoing events, we are tired of living on the edge of personal alert; it is in such moments that we must continue to breathe fire, to bring down damnation, not in an act of cruelty, but in response to stupidity, to arrogance, and as songs such as The One Who Knows My Name, Scars, the aforementioned Under Order, We Bleed, and One Enemy, all come put of the corner fighting, ready to spit blood in the name of humanity, so Carbon Black release their inner thoughts and produce what should be considered their finest work to date.
We Remain, and so we must. It is not an act if stubbornness to do so, it is resistance to the call of murder of each person’s soul, the act of sabotage on our planet, our home; we remain because there is still so much to do.
Carbon Black release We Remain on May 6th.
Ian D. Hall