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Photo Credit: © Christie Goodwin

As one of the few current supergroups the 2nd album from Black Country Communion (BCC) was awaited with quiet optimism.  Despite coming out less than a year after their eponymous debut, the new release, 2 doesn’t disappoint.

Who could doubt the heritage of BCC’s members.  On Bass is Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple & Black Sabbath), blues prodigy Joe Bonamassa on guitar, Jason Bonham (Led Zeppelin and son of original member John) on drums and Dream Theatre’s Derek Sherinian on keyboards.  However sometimes the sum of the parts doesn’t end up being what you’d expect and these guys had a lot to live up to.

What I find initially refreshing about BCC’s philosophy is that they could easily have toured their first album and padded out their set with covers to entertain the masses and rake in some money.  They chose instead to jump right into recording their second album so when they do hit the road in earnest they will have enough BCC material to do their name as a band justice.  To date they’ve only done two live gigs, one in Wolverhampton and one in London.

Not only is this BCC’s second album within a year, Bonamassa also had two solo album releases in recent subsequent years with Black Rock and Dust bowl.  It perhaps comes as no surprise that many of the lyric and music writing duties are credited to Hughes although by no means solo efforts it seems.

BCC once again turn to Kevin Shirley as producer.  Shirley joins BCC and Bonamassa in the busy category as he produced both BCC and Bonamassa albums mentioned above.  Shirley has the production heritage to do the album justice having previously worked on albums by rock luminaries such as Aerosmith, Iron Maiden and Led Zeppelin.

The roots of the artists and producer’s past aren’t lost or wasted on this album and anybody who appreciates 70s rock will feel at home with this release.  There is no heed played to current musical trends, instead you get classic rock tracks mostly in the five and six minute bracket with a couple of tracks pushing the eight minute mark.

Having now listened through four or five times I don’t feel the length of the tracks to be a hindrance.  They may initially seem daunting but there is plenty musically to keep the interest with riffs and hooks a plenty.

The album starts off at full pace with The Outsider thumping it’s way in, before we hear Sherinian’s Lesley organ playing off wonderfully against Bonamassa’s guitar.  Man in the Middle sounds more like an Aerosmith filler track to me however its haunting chorus just redeems it.

The Battle for Hadrian’s Wall sees Bonamassa take the lead vocal duty and it’s a nice complement to Hughes’ more classic rock delivery as well as being more interesting musically.  The acoustic guitar introduction soothes us into the song that can rival some of Kansas’ classic story telling.

With a band made up of artists of great standing, each within their own right, it would be easy to see how a fight for musical supremacy could unfold.  This doesn’t happen however and their talents compliment each other very well with Shirley’s production balancing the forces.  This is very evident on the track Faithless where Shirley strikes a wonderful balance with the musicians, each given their space to excel yet each also complimenting each other and allowing space for the song to speak.  As the song builds into its crescendo and the final notes of the synth strings fade I feel myself reaching for the rewind button.

Hughes still has a perfect rock voice, not diminished by the years, as exhibited on Crossfire and Bonham’s cymbal work is divine and he really knows when to let rip or hold back.

I wish in some ways that BCC would let the blues influence show more, perhaps letting Bonamassa write more would be the answer.  There needed to be a few more changes of mood in the music to let the soul speak too.

At nearly sixty five minutes you certainly get your moneys worth with BCC and I look forward to seeing them do some of these tracks live.  The highlight of their upcoming tour is their slot at London’s High Voltage festival on July 24th.  They warm up for that at Llandudno’s Cymru Arena on the 23rd before heading off to Leeds (26th), Newcastle (27th), Glasgow (29th) before ending their tour at Manchester’s Academy on Saturday 30th.

With BCC doing so few dates so far and with their heavy individual recording schedule I wouldn’t be surprised if these remain a few of the rare opportunities to see the band live and shouldn’t be missed.

The new album is released on June 13th.

Verdict: Classic rock that thoroughly entertains. 8/10