The press release for Black Oak County’s third album reads: “The Danish hard rock quartet BLACK OAK COUNTY releases their third album, taking them to new musical horizons, with a wide mix of thundering breakdowns, catchier choruses than ever before, a massive wall of pounding guitar riffs, and a heartfelt piano ballad.”
Album number three also sees the return of Niels Beier who back in 2017 chose to leave the band and music all together. It’s great to have him back because much as the second album was solid it did miss his powerful and soulful pipes. As the presser goes on to say: “Now with both Beier and singer/bassist René Kristensen doing vocal duties in the band, new musical doors have opened for the Esbjerg-based rockers.” and they’re not wrong vocally this is an impeccable album.
The new era opens with ‘Crossed the Line’ which sounds like a heavier Nickelback, and ‘Camouflage’ that sounds like many of the bands that came out in the 2000’s who took the quiet/loud template that Nirvana made their own and added a few growls and called it Nu-Metal. Some did it very well and some made it their own like Shinedown and My Chemical Romance and Black Oak take a fair old stab at it.
‘Save Your Breath’ the single from 2023 has a hypnotic industrial opening and again gives of a nice heavy ‘Shinedownesque’ vibe, and ‘Boom Boom Baby’ is more stripped back and highlights the voice a little more but really is as close as we’ll get to Canadian giants Nickelback. ‘No More’ keeps that vibe. So far so solid.
The point of difference for me at least is when they harken back to the sound of that first record and highlight those vocals. Here the slower ‘Enemy’ it works great but has a more modern sheen. the ‘go to’ though is tracks like ‘Point Of No Return’ that sit in that modern rock space sonically, driving guitars and driving vocals. It’s effective, it’s well played but it’s nothing new to your ears.
‘Timebomb’ might be my favourite here – there’s just more aggression and a bigger riff to ride it home; whilst ‘Wake Up’ amps it up even more before second single ‘Fire Inside’ harnessed that killer groove and really hits the spot.
That just leaves us with the riff of the album on ’11. www.Lies’ which has an early Hinder vibe and is up there with the best here. ‘Broken Window’ which closes with a complete drop off in pace reminds me of everything I loved about this band when I first heard them. Its a beautiful ballad with a great vocal, wonderful orchestration and one that resists the temptation to burst into flames. It’s a cool way to end what is an interesting album which seeks to repoint the sound of the band.
As the album goes its great that there are now two singers and as the material goes, the vocal interchange works well. Co-written and produced with Nicklas Sonne, it’s a very competent album and if you love that modern aggressive style then you’ll love this.
‘III’ is brimming with energy and sounds fresh and modern but it is a step away from the debut that had more of a ‘live’ feel. Some will love it all the more because of that, and some will wonder about the new sound. For me it’s a great modern rock record but a little less ‘Black Stone Cherry’ and a bit more ‘Nickelback’ than that debut.
7/10
Live dates:
28/11 – Portalen, Greve, DK**
29/11 – Vershuset, Næstved, DK**
30/11 – Amager Bio, Copenhagen, DK**
06/12 – Gimle, Roskilde, DK**
TRACKLISTING:
1. Crossed the Line
2. Camouflage
3. Save Your Breath
4. Boom Boom Baby
5. No More
6. Enemy
7. Point Of No Return
8. Timebomb
9. Wake Up
10. Fire Inside
11. www.Lies
12. Broken Window
Web / Social:
Blackoakcounty.com
Facebook.com/BlackOakCounty
Instagram/blackoakcounty/
Lineup:
Niels Beier – guitar, vocals
René Kristensen – bass, vocals
Jack Svendsen – guitar
Mike Svendsen – drums