Album Review: Peter Black - No Dangerous Gods In Tunnel

Much of the news surrounding seminal rockers The Hard Ons' axeman Peter “Blackie” Black has focused on the dreadful assault he endured whilst driving his taxi cab in May. Thankfully he's recovered from this horrendous incident and is already back spruiking his second solo album, No Dangerous Gods In Tunnel. Those who only know Black from his “day band” most likely won't understand what's going on over the duration of the record, and those disappointed in the trajectory he took on his first foray into acoustics aren't likely to change their mind. But for those interested in deliberately eschewed pop songs with falsetto vocals that focus on warped lyricism interspersed with lush string arrangements, this is the album for you.

Black openly concedes that his relationship with the acoustic guitar and the solo guise are in their infancy, and at times this shows. Whilst some tracks, such as the sonorous Looking For The Devil In Every Detail, Tickle and Dumb Dumb, are strangely affecting numbers whose crooked hooks bury themselves into your brain like an insistent burr, and Bus Catcher is like a perverse marriage between Syd Barrett and Dan Melchior, others fare less kindly. Algebra And Calculus feels like Eleanor Rigby without the nuance or intellect, whilst Cloud Nine's overly simplistic lyrics and instrumentation is little more than a Playschool tune for adult contemporary audiences.

No Dangerous Gods In Tunnel is a curio likely to inspire a fierce reaction in all those who hear it. It is a hodgepodge of ideas constructed in a robustly unique way, with some gold to be found for those willing to wade into its depths.