Review: Black Country Communion – Afterglow

This is a review I didn’t expect to write. Not that I don’t mind writing bad reviews or anything but I’d rather write about records that trigger some kind of emotion. And I didn’t expect Black Country Communion’s (BCC) Afterglow to do that for the simple reason that I am not such a big fan of the late 70s rock sound unless everything falls together. In addition, I had listened to the first two albums and thought, nah, not my cup of tea.

Long story short, Afterglow (Spotify link) is a hell of a record. Very moody but the perfect fall release. If you don’t know, Black Country Communion is Glen Hughes on bass guitar, Joe Bonnamassa on guitar, Derek Sherinian on keyboards and Jason Bonham on drums. Yes, one of these supergroups. What really surprised me most is that the vocal melodies and timbre of Hughes voice appeal to me. I wonder why he has never popped my horizon so far. He brings a big range to the table and is able to go very high which complements guitar and bass lines very nicely.

What also separates this release from similar sounding material e.g. Led Zeppelin (hey, I said similar, not the same. It’s just so you have a hunch of what this could sound like) is that the long instrumental passages are missing which makes it much more listenable in my opinion. While I appreciate a great guitar riff probably even more than anybody it serves the song when it’s not overdone.
Thumbs up!

Here is a snippet from the title track Afterglow:

And here a snippet from my favorite The Circle: