Hi everyone. Tooththony Spantano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this new Black Country, New Road album, Forever Howlong.

Yep, brand new LP from the UK band Black Country, New Road, their highly anticipated third studio album, which there is a lot riding on, I would say, as the band was turning heads early on in their career in the late 2010s with singles like "Sunglasses", which definitely helped usher in a new demand for a very moody, linear, spoken-word-type indie rock with lots of tortured inner monologues going on.

The band would eventually go on to drop two full-length albums that dug deeper into that sound, excellent records all around, building a passionate fanbase in the process of dropping these albums.

But shortly after the release of the band's second album, their lead singer, Isaac Wood, who many would say was a very key component to the band's sound, left the group. Such a massive change obviously put the group at a crossroads, but they decided to stick together and trust in their collective abilities to write new songs in a new dynamic, which led to the release of the live Bush Hall performance and concert record in 2023, a project that, while far from perfect, definitely proved that the band had enough adaptability to make this next oncoming chapter of their career worth waiting for.

Which brings us to the first full length studio album the band is dropping with this changed lineup, and the ladies are really taking the lead on this one as Tyler Hyde, May Kershaw, and Georgia Ellery are now the primary voices of the band. But the band isn't just undergoing changes vocally on this record. I would say that's also the case instrumentally and narratively.

The song "Besties", which is not only the first track off this record, but was the first single from this album, is a prime example of that. It really sounds wholly unlike anything Black Country, New Road has done up until this point, and it's clear the band really wants to lean into that. I mean, if there is something about the band's sound at this point that remains consistent in this new era, it's that their band chemistry still leaves them in a place where they sound huge, larger than life in their best moments.

But a lot of the angst and endless tension that was guiding the instrumentation on previous records, for the most part, is gone, and being replaced with something that is a lot lighter, more feel good, but also still quite personal and self-aware. As this song is very much about female friendship and the love of that connection, companionship, and support, but also the fear and rawness and vulnerability that can come with having someone in your life that knows you so well. It's a very balanced and thoughtful song in that way, and it's one of many moments on the album where the band, narratively, is taking something everyday and shifting it musically into something that's just bursting with emotion and theatrical, too.

Theatrics, I would also say, are the name of the game on the following track, "The Big Spin", which I don't think brings the strongest tune on the album, mind you, as the structure of the track is ever shifting and lacking a bit of melodic focus. But still, many of the lyrics on the track are very intriguing. The vocal performance is solid, and the whole thing reads like an unhinged fever dream with some strange ties to vegetables and maybe gardening. "We chopped off your arms / Chopped off your beautiful purple hair / But we had to make room for the living, the living room / But I think that the lemons might make a comeback this year / Maybe we'll get the beets to join us."

With writing so eccentric on this record, it's no surprise there are multiple songs in the tracklist that come across like they're being sung on some level like they are in character. The song "Socks", for example, features a protagonist that, at least I read as, being filled with dread about their age, abilities, and level of experience. But also on top of that, a relationship they're trying to keep alive. There's even a pivotal point before the final ascent of the song where it is sung, "Here comes the chorus!" Then we're hit with this very fiery, heavy finish of bass and sax and drums and piano.

"Two Horses" is another narrative around a first-person perspective, but in a very different setting. The protagonist describes herself as a faraway traveler, and a lot of the happenings from there read like the goings on in a crazy soap opera or a very over-the-top trashy romance novel. But the story intensifies beautifully along with the instrumentation, and we hit some interesting peaks that I can only describe as like indie, old vintage cowboy television show soundtrack fusion, which I say in the most complementary way possible.

The song "Happy Birthday" feels like another perspective switch of sorts. The tone of the vocals is interesting as well. The entire song feels like I'm being talked down to by somebody who's constantly trying to invalidate my feelings. And their feelings of dread and unhappiness around the state of your life, maybe feeling stuck in a rut with the person you're married to, the way things are currently. There are intense feelings of misery going on here, and yet they are being thrown out the window with statements like, "People would give an arm and a limb to be where you are."

But yeah, with lots of beautiful and dramatic instrumentation backing it up, this song is just all about wrestling with these feelings. Again, this could be an external voice, an internal voice. Either way, there's definitely a struggle going on here.

"For the Cold Country" was another single from the album and another immense moment on the record, instrumentally. I think it actually features the biggest finish on the entire album, and the whole track is maybe the most far away place, narratively and historically. What I mean by that is the writing on this track seems to center around a knight, a fierce warrior who's seen winning some battles. But this seems like a bit of an analogy because the real meaning behind the story is that this person reaches a place where they want to take off their armor and become softer and not be so, I guess, battle-ready and on edge.

So as you can see, there are many songs on this record that are just working through a lot of tense and tangled and complex feelings and instrumental arrangements and song structures. This is not a super poppy, hooky, straightforward, to the point album. It's more of a slow burner that you are going to have to listen to over and over and over to really have it click with you and really get what it's going on about much of the time. But there's plenty of beautiful instrumentation and nuances to make all of those repeated listens worth it.

However, I would say there are some tracks in the tracklist that are maybe a bit more direct. "Salem Sisters", for example, I think is one of the most blunt ballads on the project. However, where on some level it is still executed instrumentally like it's some like vaudeville tune. I also love the way the band turns on a dime instrumentally and emotionally on this track at various points as they're switching between these passages of more lush instrumentation and then these very grim, mesmerizing guitar arpeggios. The writing is interesting, too. I like the way the band is able to conjure this analogy with the Salem witch trials.

Though this record is definitely filled with lots of internal monologues and a lot of existential dread, the reference points that are used to explore these feelings are never the same. They're always changing.

As far as the final moments on this record are concerned, we have more instances of super theatrical instrumentation being matched with tales of modern living. I think, narratively, the title track of this record does that really well, but simultaneously, I think, musically, it could have done a better job of cutting to the chase as it really does tend to meander in some moments.

If there is an Achilles' heel to the record, it's that, that the music sometimes does feel a bit too much like it's at the mercy of the storytelling, and they could be working together better to enhance one another. Like, for example, the way the music suddenly dies out toward the very end of "Nancy Tries to Take the Night".

Rewinding a bit, I also thought the song "Mary" could have used some boning up, too, as this track just felt like a character portrait of a girl who's just having an absolutely awful time at school, socially speaking. I think the track could have done more to progress that story and contextualize that character in her experience.

Still, with all that being said, the final track of the record I thought was maybe the best possible way this album could have ended, because not only does it have very strong refrains behind it at the very finish, but I think the song really rounds up the emotional themes of the album very well, too. Plus, I really do love it when a band or an artist goes all out for a big moment at the very end.

But yeah, overall, I thought this was a really impressive record. Loved it. I think on some level, Black Country, New Road is still working finding their narrative voice when it comes to songwriting, generally. But the sound and instrumental direction of this record is really cohesive. The performances and writing are detailed and skilled. The production, impressive. In a lot of ways, this record really feels like a lot of the best and most classic vibes from the worlds of baroque pop and indie folk, with some progressive leanings to Grizzly Bear, a little Belle and Sebastian, some Decemberists, too.

But yeah, on this record, Black Country, New Road is really borrowing from that world and contributing to it, too, in the most lovely way, which is why I'm feeling a decent two strong 8 on this album.

Anthony Fantano. Black Country, New Road. Forever.