see it online:

http://www.performermag.com/nep.recrevs.php

Upon opening The Black's recently released EP, Dead Love Songs, one is greeted by the liner notes: "I always win. I get my way. I pray the Lord my soul to take," framed by female silhouettes that would be more at home on a trucker's mud-flaps. Despite its ill-advised packaging and artwork, Dead Love Songs is a catchy, solidly-produced rock album that won't disappoint.

The infectious keyboard and guitar combo in the first ten seconds of "Green Eyed Girl (Why Would You Lie to Me?)" immediately initiates the listener into The Black's brand of blues-infused rock. A song of anger and betrayal, it's an apt starting place for the passionate EP. "Sad and Lonely You," the final song on the EP, exhibits more focused emotion; its vocals are less frenetic than the rest of the album, and its drumming is more precise. Whereas the beginning of the album is turbulent, its conclusion has a mellowed, melancholy tone, like the wisdom gained after a bittersweet break-up. Sandwiched in between are "Caroline," which shows the breadth of The Black's repertoire, and "Young Girls," a simple, hummable song with echoes of Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child of Mine."

Confident lead singer Tim Hansen has picked up a lot of experience in his 15 years as a New England performer. Hansen, reminiscent of a throaty Steven Tyler, sounds closely tied to his Worcester roots and shows few traces of an acoustic/synth-pop chrysalis. Although The Black sounds at times like a secular Creed with stronger drive and fewer soaring vocals, the band certainly has wings. You can picture them playing somewhere between a frat house basement and a bar in Bridgewater.

Dead Love Songs is the sort of unpretentious, music-driven rock that eschews glossy liner notes and is magnetic enough to keep the listener coming back for more. (M-80 Records)

www.theblackrocks.com

-Kate Cole & Christian Eager