A couple of days before getting the Black Foxxes EP ‘Pines‘ to review, I was told by a friend that the biggest problem that music (and the music industry) faces is incest. He said that bands aren’t just taking inspiration from their musical idols, and re-branding it as something altogether different, but in-fact just out and out copying it (but obviously at a poorer quality) and labels are snapping this up for a quick buck, leaving audiences with watered down music that doesn’t take risks and tread new water.
And this is exactly how Exeter based band Black Foxxes sound.
It’s not that ‘Pines‘ is bad, by all means, it isn’t at all, and lead single ‘River‘ showcases the quality of a band able to pen a song that is emotive, fragile as well as gut wrenchingly heavy in part. It’s just that between that guitar tone, those almost cute little guitar slides that are littered everywhere on this EP, those moments of silence before the crushing gravelly shouts, and that almost American vocal tone, you can say that you’ve heard this done before, by Manchester Orchestra. And by the time the final track rings out, you’re almost wondering if Andy Hull will persue suing the band for stealing his intellectual property.
If you want to listen to emotive rock that sounds like Manchester Orchestra, avoid this, just listen to Manchester Orchestra instead.
[rating:2]
