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http://www.senbaltimore.com/blogs/agt/blacklisted---heavier-than-heaven-lonelier-than-go.shtmlBlacklisted - Heavier Than Heaven, Lonelier Than God
Philly's Blacklisted unleash the agony on Heavier Than Heaven, Lonelier Than God.
Kicking off with no pretense whatsoever, Blacklisted's latest is a rapid shot (the whole album is less than twenty minutes long, making it a full lengthy only by quantity of tracks, not playing time) of hardcore metal stripped bare of its shiny chrome to expose the rusty core. The product of the grunge era, singer and Blacklisted mainstay George Hirsch spills his own blood across every second of Heavier Than Heaven, Lonelier Than God (Deathwish) and is, at all times, very clearly inspired by Kurt Cobain (the album's title sends a nod to a Cobain biography) as well as others such as PJ Harvey. Hirsch also sends a shout to Cat Power, nee Chan Marshall, on "Wish", where he requests a "Chan Marshall eulogy."
While the record is clearly the outpouring of a man battling with his demons, it is never an assault on cliche topics such as sour love, but a diatribe on institution ("Matrimony"), inauthenticity of self ("Memory Lane"), and denial ("Self-Explosive", which also has one of the most minimal but tension-breaking bridges I've heard this year). Heavier Than Heaven, Lonelier Than God is fast, hard, emotional, introspective, and analytical. It doesn't stop at scratching the surface, but gouges its way into the dark bitterness of the human condition.
Unfortunately brief, the album ends abruptly and disjointed, but you get the impression the blood-letting isn't over. Score one against the world for Blacklisted. Your move, world.