Photo Credit: Maryanne Bilham
We were lucky enough to see Black Smoke Trigger play their first ever UK shows, supporting Bruce Dickinson in May. Their music definitely pulled us in and when they revealed their debut album Horizons would be released this month we were looking forward to hearing it – better still, reviewing it!
Black Stone Trigger hail from Napier, New Zealand, describing themselves as the biggest export from New Zealand since Lord Of The Rings. Horizons was recorded and produced by Nick Raskulinecz (Alice In Chains, Foo Fighters, RUSH) and mixed by Chris Lord-Alge (Green Day, Muse, Prince), at various locations including Nashville, Hawaii and New Zealand. Following on from the band’s 2019 EP release Set It Off, this new release actually started off life as an EP but the band were encouraged by their producer to expand it to a full album.
What a great album it is, twelve tracks of hard rock showcasing the various styles of music they are capable of. So who are Black Smoke Trigger? Vocalist Baldrick provides the passion required to front a band with his soaring vocal abilities, while guitarist Charlie Wallace has the talent to play anything from melodies to stadium-conquering riffs, oh and he is the creator of the successful Guitar Mastery Method. The brilliant line-up is completed by Dan Fulton on bass and Josh Te Maro on drums.
Horizons opener Phantom Pain has elements of Foo Fighters about it, as Baldrick sings: “Take my bones but you will never dig my grave.” There’s also a decent guitar solo near the end, showcasing the band’s metal influences. K.M.T.L. is an excellent track with Wallace’s explosive guitar working well alongsideTe Maro’s thrashing drums. Six of the tracks were released ahead of the album. The Way Down was the first to be released in 2023 and is the standout track on the LP. If you get a chance we would recommend watching the video for this one, it was recorded at the Auckland Sky Tower in New Zealand, the tallest building in the southern hemisphere. Wallace commented at the time: “It was quite the experience jumping off such a tall building while playing a guitar solo.” We bet it was (he actually did it several times!). Perfect Torture begins acoustically, before exploding into screaming vocals from Baldrick, while Proof Of Life is one of those rocky ones that would go down well at the live shows.
Learn To Crawl has an interesting intro with a hooky guitar rhythm throughout, when the chorus starts it explodes into life. The next track, Set Me On Fire, didn’t really do much for us – maybe a bit too similar to a few others on the album. Next up is Psycho, as Baldrick declares “She’s a fucking psycho.” The track features a lovely solo guitar that wouldn’t be out of place coming from Slash. One More Chance (Don’t Let It Slip Away) brings back the energy. We really like the feeling of this one, especially the dual vocals and guitar work from Wallace, his musicianship is definitely the one feature of this album that stands out. Latest single release Sun Cries Red is a decent acoustic effort, Baldrick shines through here, while the last track of the album is Promise, a very personal song Wallace and a decent end to the album.
For a debut album this is a great effort – we can’t help but wonder what is next for Black Smoke Trigger. A UK tour would be good!
8/10
Standout Tracks: The Way Down, One More Chance (Don’t Let It Slip Away), Sun Cries Red
For Fans Of: The Dead Daisies, Black Stone Cherry, Phil Campbell and the Bastard Son
Written by: Alan Brown
