BLACK FOXXES | Reidi | Album Review

Many new and forthcoming bands in the rock scene truthfully have unique identities to their name that can be appreciated in droves. This is easily true for Black Foxxes, a band out of England. Formed in 2013, the alternative band is ready to gain much more attention from fans with their sophomore release, "Reidi", which is an Icelandic word for "rage". Anyone going into this record, do not think that this will be a completely heavy and relentlessly aggressive release because Black Foxxes as a band is not like that. Black Foxxes gives us much more of a focus on melody and clean guitarwork to deliver the emotion of a song rather than distorted riffs and loud screaming. It's something that gives Black Foxxes an identity in a genre chock full of stuff that can be considered at its core as simple and not too divergent from everything else. Bands like Black Foxxes have a full intention on making something memorable and long-lasting, and it's bands like this that will pave the way for rock music as a whole. So, how is this band exactly willing to do that on their second album, and what are the tools in their arsenal that they have in order to live up to their name as a truly unique band which lacks any comparable peers? 

The first song that most people heard from this project is entitled "Saela", and this is the perfect track to describe what you will mostly be delivered throughout this record. "Saela" features some beautiful clean guitar work that offers a bit of a nostalgic vibe to it and a very involved perfomance from lead vocalist Mark Holley who injects every single dose of emotion he can into this song. It's a completely layered voice that blends very well with the other elements in the song, including the songwriting. Though I do think this is a song that's a little short running just under three minutes, there is still a lot of musical merit here and really sets up something that defines the word "special" as you listen throughout the album's ten tracks. And the best part is that "Saela" isn't even the best cut on this album. The opening and closing tracks "Breathe" and "Float On" are absolutely gorgeous compositions and the melodies present on these two songs are flawless, and it's music that would suit a relaxing time of your life perfectly, whether that be a night drive or an evening in your room where you want to close your eyes and envision beautiful sights. Though I won't necessarily say that every song on this album is phenomenal or life-changing like tracks like these, there is still enough here that give you that feeling and tracks like "Flowers", "Oh It Had To Be You", and "Take Me Home" are tracks that have the same amount of appeal as the true standouts of the album. 

Overall, Black Foxxes have created a beautiful soundscape with their second album "Reidi". It's an album that will definitely grow on you more and more to the point to where you can easily imagine this being one of the best albums of 2018. I didn't review this in a full-scale review immediately when it came out as it's one of those lower scale releases, and it's actually taken me awhile to be in the mood to give a review to this album, but one thing's for sure and that's that Black Foxxes is a band that you need to support. This is the type of band that you highly anticipate what their next move may be because it might set new standards for the genre that they are currently in, similarly to bands like Northlane, Black Map, and even Hidden Hospitals if that counts. It's the type of record that will most likely make a band well known, or at least able to be hyped up about. Even though there are definitely weak spots on this album there is definitely some outstanding music here that could definitely pave the way for something marvelous to happen in the future as far as later material in this band's arsenal goes. That should definitely give anyone an incentive to keep following this band, and to give this album a listen immediately. 

RATING: 9/10

What did you think about the record? Was it good? Was it bad? Let me know in the comments below. And of course, these are only my opinions. If your opinions are different, awesome! If they're similar, then that's great, too. So, don't hesitate- comment to me about it down below. Take care.

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