Review: Blackshape – Blackshape

Style: Post-mathcore (instrumental)
Review by: Callum
Country: US-UT
Release date: April 23, 2021

I tend to agree with Blackshape’s self-assessment of their own sound. “Heavy, beautiful math” pretty much hits the nail on the head. Their debut is a predominantly instrumental, dynamic rollercoaster of lighter shoegaze and heavy, intense climaxes. Beyond the initial ambient introductory track, influences of other instrumental acts that like to use time signatures to mess with your head like Cloudkicker and Russian Circles are immediately apparent, the former influence shows in the way guitar riffs in tracks like “III” increase in complexity and intensity before bursting through the proverbial clouds in an uplifting crescendo. The latter influence is felt more when those crescendos come crashing back down in dark, crushing sections as at the end of “V” or the reverb-heavy lead guitar in “VII”.

With one exception, the tracks on the album are numbered I-XI eschewing traditional nomenclature. Considering that each track flows into the next seamlessly, it stands to reason that the record is intended to be listened to uninterrupted, from start to finish. I wonder if the band missed out on a trick by not reaching number XII as the hours on a clock face would, since the album outro also loops seamlessly back into the intro to facilitate continuous listens. At the same time, I appreciate a band not throwing in a filler or mediocre placeholder track for the sake of setting up a gimmick that’s most likely been done before. Naming instrumental tracks can often be a little awkward, however numbering tracks can also make it harder to remember and revisit particular parts of the album. The exception to the rule happens to be my personal favourite track of the album. Rather than the expected X, “ITIIITIATIIHYLIHYL” is instead an acronym of the album’s only track with lyrics. Poignant, and delivered beautifully, the vocals on this track are a large part of what saves this album from being otherwise somewhat forgettable.

The rest of the album is well constructed, well mixed, and well played but there are few stand-out moments or elements that show off a huge amount of character. There is a hard hitting ‘breakdown’ section in “III”, some dizzying, sliding riffs reminiscent of Cult Leader on “VII”, but otherwise there’s a lot of good but not great here.

Recommended tracks: ITIIITIATIIHYLIHYL, III, VIII
Recommended for fans of: Russian Circles, Cloudkicker, Holy Fawn
Final verdict: 6.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram

Label: Independent

Blackshape is:
– Scott Shepard (guitar)
– Joe Woit (guitar)
– Josh Dunn (bass)
– Perry Burton (drums)