Black Space Riders – We Have Been Here Before

 

 

Black Space Riders – We Have Been Here Before
Cargo Records – 2022
Rock, Stoner, Garage, Alternative, Metal
Rated: ****

I’ve always been very partial to the 2010 Blood and Fire album by Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster. And there are some moments on the new Black Space Riders album We Have Been Here Before that remind me of said album; or better yet, the vibe, the feel, and the electricity it contained. It is here! Again. It’s there in minute form when the album opens with one-minute-long Crawling, it’s there in bigger form when the second track Crawling (DownWithEverything) starts battering away like a perfect rock ‘n roll battering ram and it’s absolutely there when brilliant third track Trapped In An Endless Loop releases its madness. Those vocals, during the chorus, there’s something electrifying and psychotic about it, manic, savage, that building loop, in both riffs and vocals towards the end, ominous, booming, and grandiose. And then there’s the transition into that fourth track, Almost The Lost, so restrained and humble, showing us that the five-piece Black Space Riders from Münster, Germany have made considerable strides since their first self-titled release in 2010. The momentum that keeps on picking up, that swirling and dogged determination, has a minor dip when Almost The Lost arrives, but it serves a purpose and feels like you are right in the middle, right there in the eye of the storm. Following track This Flow has you expecting the storm has passed, Shine starts to build it up again and then it continues on with AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGH. A perfect kamikaze attack on all of your senses. The momentum reaches its pinnacle with title track We Have Been Here Before. After which gothic, noire, psychotic touches do reappear form time to time, but not as much as during those first tracks. Well, of course there’s almost eleven minutes long battleship closer Worlds Collide Dans Ma Tete. Which seems to contain every aspect of the entire album in one form or another. So, after fifteen frenzied tracks and one hour and twenty minutes of mesmerizing music you will be fiercely in love with the new idiosyncratic and infectious Black Space Riders album, you will feel entirely absorbed into their wild, unpredictable, and borderline insane loop. We Have Been Here Before is caustically thrilling, compelling credibility, and will just as easily put you into a mental institute as keep you out of it. AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGH!

(Written by JK)

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