Black Thai – Blood From On High

When the formation of Black Thai was announced in 2009 I couldn’t stop making references to ye olde Thai stick that you just can’t find anymore. No one ever invites me out for Thai food because they’re tired of hearing me complain about it. Turns out the name Black Thai has something to do with a drunken conversation about a restaurant, and luckily for me these guys are good sports and are polite when I bring up the subject of forgotten weeds.

I’d give them a good review just for that but luckily the music rocks, which is a nice bonus. Black Thai’s debut EP is 6 songs in 30 minutes – a perfect introduction to a heavy band like this. I wish more bands would put out all killer no filler EP’s. “Leave ‘em wanting more” is the one showbiz tactic that never goes out of style. These guys are sort of a Boston supergroup with Jim Healey (from We’re All Gonna Die) on vocals/guitar/red beard and Scotty Fuse from Cortez on guitar/black beard. Kyle Rasmussen played drums on the record but has been replaced by the Cozy Powell loving Jeremy Hemond, also of Cortez and Roadsaw. Cory Cocomazzi has the best Italian metal bass playing name since Anthony Fragnito of Black Lace.

There’s a strong Soundgarden feel to this band, but you can also tell that these guys grew up on a lot of the same bands that Soundgarden were influenced by – Black Sabbath, obviously, but maybe even some early Killing Joke mixed up with 70’s Judas Priest. Jim’s voice is very powerful, somewhere in between Chris Cornell and Bobby Liebling of Pentagram, and his lyrics are good, too. Too many bands concentrate on making the music heavy and then writing throw away lyrics. The dueling Les Paul guitars are heavy but not tuned down to mush and the rhythm section swings with authority.

Opener “The Ladder” has a heavy “Hole In The Sky” groove that gets your noggin moving and contains a great guitar solo. “Satan’s Toolshed,” “Saturation Point” and “333” are all over 6 minutes but never get dull. “333” is my favorite song on the EP and sounds like the type of song that if Johnny Cash was still alive, Rick Rubin would have him do a version of it. There’s also a killer Black Sabbath/Bad Brains riff at the end that they jam out and then ends unexpectedly. “Sinking Ships” is the shortest song at 4 and a half minutes that has a pissed off Motorhead vibe to it.

As good as this EP is, their live show is even better. I was lucky enough to catch them on their recent East Coast tour in Brooklyn at the acoustically perfect Hank’s Saloon. Despite an exclusive Sunday night crowd they blew the roof off the place and gave me a nice 2 day hangover. Is there anything better than that?


--Woody

http://www.blackthaiband.com/


Buy direct

http://www.blackthaiband.com/shop