Black Honey’s latest album is an evolution of the band’s fearsome individualism, it leaves you banging your head and dancing in your chair.

Before this album, the Brighton band already had a beautiful style with their self-titled debut album demonstrating an ability to make nostalgic indie rock music. This new style is more confident, more in your face and even more sexy.

‘Written & Directed’ has an explosive start with arguably the best track, ‘I Like the Way You Die’. The experimentation with pedals and guitar effects is evident throughout and is demonstrated in this track massively. The simplicity of this track paired with how powerful Izzy Phillips’ voice is makes this song seem like the soundtrack to the final battle in a high budget action film. 

The momentum of the album is continued in the second track, ‘Run for Cover’. I was not surprised to learn that Royal Blood’s frontman Mike Kerr aka the ‘king of bass’ helped write the track. The heavy guitar effects and fast pace makes it obvious.

The use of high gain on the bass transforms their sound from a simple indie-rock band to this powerhouse of sound. It is part of their growth into this bad-ass rock band. The albums heaviest track, ‘Disinfect’ is a pleasant punch in the face.

This album showcases the bands musical knowledge by seamlessly transitioning between these heavier rock songs and some beautifully catchy indie rock songs.

 ‘Beaches’ is a great example of how well composed the whole album is. The simple drumbeat keeps the song moving while wind instruments slip their way in and out to force you to move your hips.

You can hear how much the band has grown in confidence over the last few years in every song. Their ability to use a range of instruments without the fear of losing their style is anything but short of impressive. 

Songs like ‘Back of the Bar’ and ‘Summer ’92’ also show that it’s also not all about crazy guitars. If you close your eyes, you can almost imagine dancing by the sea while listening to either of these. The guitar riff could make a grown man shed a tear and is somehow levitated by the well-placed backing vocals.The whole album is so cinematic, it really could be a soundtrack to an old fashioned western.

The only song on the whole album that I don’t love is ‘Gabrielle’. I understand that it suits the kind of spaghetti western style but it’s just such an anti-climactic finish to one powerful album. Some might see it as a good representation of the curtains closing but it is just missing the punchy guitars that you want in the final song. Despite this, it still is a nice song with quirky lyrics and a generally nice sound.

Izzy B. Phillips delivery of lyrics is similar to that of a narrator, and it works so well. The lyrics aren’t going to appear in a GCSE English paper any time soon but there are definitely things you can take away from them. ‘I Do It to Myself’ is an acceptance of her own mistakes and is paired so well with the instrumental to make you feel like you could walk into Number 10 and tell Boris what’s what. ‘Fire’ really demonstrates how powerful Phillips’ voice is. It is genuinely angelic. 

This album is honestly phenomenal, it is fast paced with a great bass line in practically every song, the guitars make you want to be a rock star and the vocals almost hypnotise you.

4.5/5