Black Lung 'Dark Waves' (27.05 - Heavy Psych Sounds)

Baltimore's prolific and creative heavy rockers BLACK LUNG return with their fourth full-length 'Dark Waves', a leap forward from their previous records with a warmer and brighter sound and even more audacious songwriting. Despite its dark themes, you can feel a tangible sense of jubilation throughout the album, and there is no doubt its stomping grooves, spine-shivering solos and acute sense of majesty topped with Dave Cavalier's soulful coloratura will take you to higher skies in no time. Fans of melody-driven à la Greenleaf, All Them Witches and much fuzzier outfits like Domkraft will love this.

TRACKLIST:

1. Demons

2. Dark Waves

3. The Cog

4. Awaken

5. Hollow Dreams

6. Death Grip

7. The Path

8. Mud King

In the winter of 2014, the trio of Adam Bufano, Elias Schutzman (both founding members of The Flying Eyes) and multi-instrumentalist Dave Cavalier emerged from Baltimore as BLACK LUNG. The band quickly set themselves apart in the crowded field of psych-doom and heavy-blues bands by eschewing a bass guitarist, instead of finding the backbone of their sound in the interchange of fuzzed-drenched guitars, deep driving drum beats, and Cavalier’s raw, blues-tinged vocals. Following the release of their self-titled debut in 2014, Black Lung was named "Best New Band" by the Baltimore City Paper and embarked on their first European tour. The tour was capped with a performance at the Rockpalast Crossroads Festival, broadcast on German national television.

In 2016, BLACK LUNG released their sophomore album "See The Enemy" on Noisolution Records. Produced by J. Robbins, guitarist and frontman for post-punk icon Jawbox (and producer for The Sword and Clutch), See The Enemy saw the band building on the strengths of their debut while at times pushing into garage-psych territory in the vein of The Black Keys and Jack White. They followed the release with a headlining European tour, notably appearing at Freak Valley Festival and Desertfest Belgium alongside bands like Graveyard, Dead Meadow and All Them Witches.

After several more years of touring and songwriting, BLACK LUNG returned with "Ancients" in 2019. Produced by Frank Marchand (producer for The Obsessed), it found the band taking even more adventurous departures from doom and psych-rock tropes. The album was followed by another successful release tour in the EU and in late 2019, guitarist Adam Bufano amicably departed the band. Shortly thereafter, guitarist Dave Fullerton (member of the post-rock trio Deaf Scene) joined the fold only to find the world turned upside down by Covid-19. Despite the setbacks and ripples of doubt across the whole of the music industry in 2020 and 2021, BLACK LUNG pushed forward with their new lineup and quietly stayed hard at work on their fourth album.

While in some ways "Dark Waves" offers a departure from prior Black Lung records, the band stays true to their roots in doom and psychedelic music, delivering eight songs packed with the frenzied, fuzzed-out guitar breakdowns, booming drums, and soulful vocals that longtime fans will appreciate. The decision to bring bass guitar prominently into the mix on "Dark Waves" adds new levels of depth and heaviness to their songs, which may be the album’s most notable and exciting development. For them, making it through these dark times meant reflecting on the past while pushing forward without knowing what the future may hold. The result is a record that sees BLACK LUNG rising to new sonic heights. "Dark Waves is set for global release through Heavy Psych Sounds Records May 27th, 2022.