“Making Headway was an emotional rollercoaster from start to finish. Even though we really need and appreciate the freedom we give ourselves by adding lots of little features from all kinds of genres, sometimes it becomes hard to really find your sound. But here it is, and we feel like we’ve made some serious headway on our musical journey!” – blacktoothed.
Pushing boundaries and creating a ‘unique’ sound is not the first thing that comes to mind when listening to the new album Headway by German based ‘multi genre’ band blacktoothed. But none the less, this latest release is a decent listen and not something you would turn off straight away.
A nine track album with already some fan favourites such as ‘Get me down’, ‘Antidote’ & ‘Time Bomb’ with some music videos to accompany.
Looking at some of their live performances and music videos like ‘Time Bomb’, this is a band who likes to have fun and doesn’t take themselves too seriously, which certainly helps you attract the right people and sends a great message out to your fans. A three piece band (with a shhneaky bassist on their live sets) blacktoothed are certainly showcasing some excellent talent.
From Punkish precision drum beats and tasty rolls and fills, to absolute shredding guitar riffs and solos from Mathilde “Matti” Keitel with the cherry on top being Hendrik Rathgeber and his powerful deep and beautiful voice going from metal core screams to radio friendly choruses.
Headway certainly jumps around a collection of sounds that will grasp the ears off many a different genre lover and age group.
Songs like Time Bomb is calling back to a time before the app TicTok existed and all we had was the “Wake up in the mornin’ feelin’ like P Diddy” lyrics from Kesha’s anthem ‘Tik Tok’ which will certainly be pulling in all those ‘teeny boppers’ who will resinate with this sound. (Are we still saying teeny boppers??)
And then over to songs like ‘Novocain’ which is possible the only song on this 9 track album that I found myself bopping my head along to.
But sadly, I have heard it all before. Breaking through a barrier of a saturated market to provide us with a fresh sound that sticks out from the rest, is not something that is happening here, but again, this is not to say that the hard work and dedication from the band has not paid off.
Clearly they are resonating with a huge audience and grabbing slots on some amazing tours with well known names, and they will continue to do so as the sound they have created is tight and right on the money of what people love. But it’s slotting right in with whats already out there.
You need to do more in this day and age in order to define yourself as ‘pushing boundaries’. But there is nothing wrong with creating a great product that will get you seen and heard, which is the case when it comes to Headway.
Order Headway here: https://arisingempire.com/headway
Carl didn’t get Carried Away with Headway as it only gets 5 out of 10
Reviewer Carl Foran – @carlforanphotography