Black Metal (Dean Blunt album)
| Black Metal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Dean Blunt | ||||
| Released | November 2014 | |||
| Genre | Art pop | |||
| Length | 53:31 | |||
| Label | Rough Trade | |||
| Producer | Dean Blunt | |||
| Dean Blunt chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 79/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    |
| Clash | 8/10 |
| DIY | |
| Exclaim! | 8/10 |
| Fact |   |
| The Guardian | |
| NME | 9/10 |
| The Observer | |
| Pitchfork Media | 7.3/10 |
| Popmatters |   |
| Resident Advisor | |
Black Metal is an album by Dean Blunt, released on Rough Trade Records in November 2014. The album features vocals from Blunt and frequent collaborator Joanne Robertson.
Musically, Black Metal features more traditional pop song structures than Blunt's previous work, but is diverse in instrumentation and genre. The album includes elements of indie pop, folk pop, Americana, dub, ambient, grime, drone, and dancehall. Critics have also noted the prose of Blunt's lyrics as being similar to contemporary hip hop lyrics, which often reflect that of dark subjects like cheating and alcoholism.
Blunt has stated that the album was inspired by what he sees as black artistic liberation away from the appropriation of 'existing/old white images' (a la names like Black Elvis, Black Cobain) toward 'something that is undefined and is new'.
Black Metal currently has a score of 79 on Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews." Critics praised Blunt's emotional range and directness on the album. In a review for The Observer, Killian Fox wrote that Blunt had created "some of the most achingly beautiful music recorded this year." Writing for Pitchfork, Colin Joyce called the album "disjointed" but praised the album for its sound and for Blunt's clearer, more pop-oriented style compared to his previous work. However, Allmusic's Andy Kellman criticized the album for being "quantity-over-quality" and for what Kellman saw as a derivative sound. Michael Hann characterized the album in The Guardian as a needlessly difficult listen that was sometimes repetitive, but nonetheless praised it as "extraordinary."
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