Go backstage with The Music and receive FREE:

  • Exclusive members-only editorial, charts
  • Our subscriber-only newsletter
  • Members only competitions to win tickets, experiences and more
  • Access to our street press archives
  • First access to our exclusive limited edition vinyl variants

Thank you for being a part of our community! Enter your email address as verification and you'll be taken backstage right away.

Please ensure that you provide a valid email address.

Album Review: Blaqk Audio - Material

StarStarStarStar

"Davey Havok's occasionally flat vocals are a detriment to the record."

More Blaqk Audio Blaqk Audio

Four years after Bright Black Heaven, AFI side project Blaqk Audio are back with the passionate and cold Material.

There's a breadth of influences here, ranging from Soft Cell and Fall Out Boy to Ministry and Rites Of Spring. Although more likely stylistic choice than studio blunder, Davey Havok's occasionally flat vocals are a detriment to the record. Still, it's a drop in the bucket given the jagged eloquence of the heavy synth leads and chiptune trills. Waiting To Be Told is a sinisterly heavy piece of Depeche Mode worship, while Graphic Violence wouldn't be out of place at an under-18s dance party.