V

Album review

After seven long years away from the studio, Black Country Communion, the supergroup brought together by Glenn Hughes, the tireless Joe Bonamassa, Jason Bonham, and Derek Sherinian, is back and better than ever. We never could’ve imagined the group coming back this strong. What groove, what cohesion, what an incredible mastery of funky-sounding hard rock and blues! All this keeps them from getting bogged down by clichés that would otherwise take away from their music’s fresh, fun side, which is sorely lacking on so many other albums of the genre. And to think that it’s the old guard that’s giving a slap in the face to younger groups! V is the embodiment of a hard rock album perfectly tailored to stadiums, with everything that’s right about Zeppelin-esque music (the keyboard intro to “Love and Faith,” the guitar on “Restless,” certain parts of which are reminiscent of the timeless “Since I’ve Been Loving You”) and that incredible voice that once graced Deep Purple. There’s no questioning Glenn Hughes’ brilliance as a singer-bassist-frontman (you have to give him credit for all of these labels, as they’re all relevant), and the years haven’t changed that. The mid-tempo songs lend real weight to more flighty rhythms, and the ballads test boundaries instead of playing by the rules, all of it going down with almost disconcerting ease. A quick message for Joe Bonamassa: Joe, after five or six blues albums, don’t wait so long to come back to pure hard rock and play guitar hero – you’re brilliant at it. This is undoubtedly the best album the group have ever conceived since their formation in 2009. © Chief Brody/Qobuz