Pitch Black

Pitch Black is dead, dead, dead.



Kevin is in SEXY & DANGEROUS with some friends in Portland and THE VULTURE COLLECTIVE with Jeremy here in the good ol' Bay.

Jamie is now in JESUS FUCKING CHRIST.

As more info becomes avaliable on the other former members, it will be posted here.



Here is a review.



PITCH BLACK

This Is The Modern Sound

(Revelation Records)



It's a damn shame that Pitch Black's excellent sophomore effort, This Is The Modern Sound, has also become the band's swan song. Word has reached this scribe that Pitch Black has recently broken up and, although it may be a fitting end -- seldom has a band delivered a second album as fully realized and mature as Pitch Black's -- so too does it rob fans of what might have come in the future. It's also unfortunate that Pitch Black has been unfairly lumped in with the great unwashed mass of aimless punk bands currently wandering the musical horizon. Anybody with half a brain would come away from listening to This Is The Modern Sound with the sense that Pitch Black is a great rock band, period.



Sure, the band member's roots are in hardcore punk, and the street cred given Kevin Cross and crew is unassailable. But from the stark, Shepard Fairey-inspired cover art to the Frank Zappa quote on the back of the CD booklet -- "Brown shoes don't make it" -- this is a different sort of listening experience. A modest guitar riff opens "Tonopah" before the full band kicks in with crashing results. Jeremy Goody's jarring keyboard riff adds to the song's urgency, underscoring the eerie, macabre subject matter of the lyrics, the tale of a desert ghost town and former gold mine. A dynamic instrumental passage displays the entire band's musical prowess before jumping headfirst into the song's final chorus.



From this point, the energy and passion of the band is unflagging, the rest of This Is The Modern Sound an object lesson in balls-to-the-wall, uncompromising rock & roll. "The Veracity Of Baggage" is supported by the fiery six-string fretwork of Cross and the dynamite rhythms of bassist Martin Munroe and drummer Jamie Morrison, keyboardist Goody riffing like a mad scientist beneath the explosive instrumentation. The song draws upon a sort of horror-film, Misfits/Rob Zombie vibe but at its heart is a solid hard rock romp. "Sutured Heart" is an atypical love song, a fresh perspective on the cliched broken heart with anguished vocals, Goth-flavored classical keyboard chiming and a powerful melodic hook. "Maze Of One Ways" features hypnotic fretwork, mesmerizing vocals, chanting keyboards and some of the most invigorating, percussive drum playing these ears have enjoyed in years. "Executives And Art Directors" provides a savage lyrical beating to the tin-eared label execs and corporate drones that too often dismiss talents like Pitch Black in favor of the trendy musical "flavor-of-the-week."



Pitch Black features a top-notch collection of instrumental players, guys raised in the punk/hardcore underground who have flown under the radar of the music world's arbiters of talent, the various instrument magazines. The guitarwork of frontman Kevin Cross is imaginative, his range and tonality impressive. Jeremy Good's keyboard playing provides the band with an edgy diversity and the rhythm guys, Munroe and Morrison, bring a complexity and dense structure to the band's sound that is missing from many rock outfits. The production is bigger than life and tightly woven, drawing upon Spector's "wall of sound" for inspiration, with every instrument working in chorus to create a multi-textured and satisfying listening experience.



Altogether, these four guys have created a minor masterpiece in This Is The Modern Sound, an album that bridges the gap between classic three-chord punk and the timeless rock aesthetic. Lyrically and musically, Pitch Black evoke memories of the Doors, Alice Cooper, Frank Zappa, Black Flag, the Misfits, Sisters Of Mercy, the Clash and probably a dozen other great bands and artists. Too good for today's modern (corporate) music world and not hip enough to garner the sort of press afforded, say, Bright Eyes, This Is The Modern Sound will nevertheless fall as one of the year's best discs. With the band's unfortunate demise, the album seems destined to become a lost classic that listeners will only discover in a decade or two. Why wait? Enjoy Pitch Black now with This Is The Modern Sound.



REVIEW BY REV. KEITH A. GORDON, COPYRIGHT 2005