Blackbraid
THE ORPHEUM | TAMPA, FL | 10.15.2023
Trve American Black Metal
If the first Black Metal bands you listened to were Mayhem, Gorgoroth, Darkthrone or Immortal well then good for fuckin you. For the rest of us posers that grew up in the suburbs far from grim and frost bitten kingdoms, Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir was the way in. Blackbraid is that new gateway band.
They have all the details dialed in – songwriting, riffs and image – that a band on the verge of dominating the feeble minds of suburbanites looking for something beyond their Chik-fil-A landscape need. A concept fully formed and packaged with user friendly production value for the uninitiated.
Corpsepaint? Hell ya. Evolved from indigenous geometric designs, they make it personal and a reflection of themselves instead of an imitation of what exists. There’s some thoughtfulness to it that moves the idea forward and into something own able. By understanding the meaning of what was they are able to push into a territory of what can be.
Why do we look down on quality when we know it is essential for growth? You can’t start out with The Dawn of the Black Hearts, Black Mass Krakow or Nattefrost Covered in his Own Shit and fully grasp why they matter. The road into obscurity is long and weird. Blackbraid offer a guiding light to those setting out on this journey.
