Released by: Blu Records

Release Date: Out Now!!!

Genre: Hard Rock

Links: https://blacklistunion.com/

Line Up:

Tony West – Vocals
Nathan West – Drums
Rafael Moreira – Guitar
Chris Johnson – Bass

Tracklist:

1. Letters From The Psych Ward
2. Out On A Jones
3. Whore Of Babylon
4. Keys To The Kingdom
5. Dirty Halo
6. The Queen Of Everything
7. Devil With The Angel Face
8. Goodbye Mr. Faded Glory
9. Velvet Girl
10. Dancing With The Angels
11. Mia
12. Gates Of Steel
13. Golden Years

Straight out of Northern Hollywood, California, USA comes the sensational modern hard rock band BLACKLIST UNION. They have already released a few albums, which I also reviewed a long time ago, and their fifth album, ‘Letters From The Psych Ward,’ sure feels very good after listening to the lovely black vinyl edition I received. The band was founded by lead singer TONY WEST back in 2004, and as already mentioned, they released four albums in the past. Between 2017 and 2020, they were not active, but four years ago, they reformed in the original lineup that, besides Tony, further includes drummer Nathan West, guitarist Rafael Moreira, and bassist Chris Johnson. Without a doubt, this band surely knows how to rock, and on vinyl, it sounds really authentic! This new album of theirs is definitely a great comeback and maybe their finest album so far.

The opener and title track ‘Letters From The Psych Ward,’ as well as the following ‘Out On A Jones,’ both show an uptempo hard-rocking driven band that taps slightly out of the glorious late 80s/early 90s American Sleazy Rock past (L.A. GUNS, GUNS’N’ROSES and such) and a lot of the mid-90s alternative rock and roll side of life (ALICE IN CHAINS, VELVET REVOLVER, STONE TEMPLE PILOTS, ALTER BRIDGE…), yet still with its own identity and a modern production. They sound really dirty, mean, and authentic, pure rock and roll from start to finish. In total, 13 tracks are pressed on this cool vinyl edition, which comes in a gatefold sleeve that contains, besides some nice drawings, all the information on the band you need to know while listening to the rocking new album of theirs. Other highlights are the catchy uptempo sleazy melodic heavy rocker ‘The Whore Of Babylon’ (OZZY meets CRUE in a VELVET REVOLVER fight!), the stadium anthem metal-ish ‘Keys To The Kingdom,’ the superb slow 90s alternative metal/ALICE IN CHAINS-ish ‘Dirty Halo’ (lovely melodies that would have been an MTV hit 30 years ago!!!), ‘The Queen Of Everything’ (a song OZZY would have loved to have recorded!), and the superb uptempo classic 80s hair metal/melodic rocker ‘Gates Of Steel’ (actually a cover of the 1980s DEVO song).

Furthermore, the power ballad ‘Mia’ is a great cover of the classic AEROSMITH tune, and the closing track ‘Golden Years’ is a nice cover of the DAVID BOWIE classic. So, all together, this is a highly recommended vinyl album. This is what rock and roll is all about, because in a world where it is hard to be original, you have to be special, and basically, BLACKLIST UNION is a special band with a cool combination of various past rock and metal influences! More info on this superb Californian rock band can be found at: https://blacklistunion.bandcamp.com/album/letters-from-the-psych-ward

Written by: Gabor Kleinbloesem