Eye Weekly diss production butt dig the riffs
BLACK SHIPS ***
Omens / New Romance For Kids
On Omens, Montreal’s beastly and thunderous Black Ships perfectly balance melodic tendencies bastardized by detuned aggression. Uniting Cancer Bats’ modest metallic edge with Cursed’s death-metal-meets-hardcore guttural prowess as well as the apocalyptic slant of High On Fire, Omens is direct and hyperactive, packed with girth and rabid fury. But while their redlining distortion initially creates a strong, haunting atmosphere, by the halfway mark it becomes a tiresome jumble of static detracting from their obvious abilities. When Black Ships step up the production aspects of their hardcore dirge, they may acquire the underground scene’s throne that was abdicated by Cursed. For now, they still have some plotting to do. KC
