Black Sites - The Promised Land?

Angry Metal Guy 70

Though not a household name, Mark Sugar and his projects Trials¹ and Black Sites hold a special seat at casa AMG and Dolph alike—underground gems that would not have had the same presence without the right ears and voice. Over the past seven years, Black Sites has been the main vehicle for Sugar’s vision, an amalgamation of loved sounds that maintains a niche curb appeal despite its familiar face. Whether by the maligned chug of 90s groove thrash, the 80s snap of stadium torchers, or the melodic wail of distant radio memory that you can’t quite place, Black Sites has successively reinvigorated well-traveled musical routes. Yet, Sugar would never want to tread the same path twice. And though The Promised Land? wears a cover similar to its predecessor, Untrue, its verdant aesthetic paints a world in healing rather than in dread—in evolution?

Not progressive in the virtuosic showboat sense, The Promised Land? earns its artistic merit through its curated layers which stack influences on influences to reconstruct from the past a sound all its own—Black Sites ever the difficulty to pin to one genre. Leaning on the heavy metal riffcraft of legends like early Queensrÿche and Dio, Black Sites rips into easy gallops with fiery intros and breaks (“Dread Tomorrow,” “Many Turn to None”). And when in the atmosphere of slow builds and pedal textures, Black Sites finds chorus-shimmering contrasts (“Gideon”) and melodic breakaways from soft-toned transitions (“Promised Land”) in the same way you might catch in a modern Fates Warning album. All the while, though, Sugar finds a way back to the sounds of thick, thrashy licks through a calculated, lower-tuned harmony. As much 90s Testament in weight as they are King‘s X in their open, ringing connection (“Descent,” “Chasing Eternity”)—consequently also sounding the most like Trials riffs except punctuated by anthemic choruses and Rush-y shuffles instead of snarled disgust.

The Promised Land? by Black Sites

Those same sing-a-long shouts and bellows pose both Black Sites’ biggest hooks and greatest challenges. Not resembling a histrionic powerhouse like Geoff Tate (Operation: Mindcrime, ex-Queensrÿche), as one might assume a vocalist would in throwback land, Sugar hovers in the realm of a tactical voice like Denis “Snake” Bélanger (Voivod) at his most melodic,² with enough power—and layering—to find a balance between a chesty projection and nasally cut on the most aggressive tracks (“Dread Tomorrow,” “World on Fire,” “Many Turn to None”). Wielding a dramatic, but not cheesy, vibrato, Sugar can also find a gripping sense of pathos as the tempo crawls. But on the early pseudo-ballad “Gideon,” mournful and striking, he wears the role a touch too long before finding a chanting bridge to escalate the narrative. And while Sugar maintains an admirable diversity throughout the eleven-minute epic “Promised Land,” during its accelerations, his voice falls to the very limits of his clean abilities—mostly charming and effective, but also in need of a break-in period.

However, at The Promised Land’s front and center sits Sugar’s mighty strings, and new drummer Brandon White’s frenetic kitwork, elements that carry enough weight to smooth over many of the album’s bumps. Black Sites presents an experience stuffed to the brim with riffs,³ but a testament to good ol’ fashioned songwriting, each riff has a sneaky and smooth transition to follow. Finding a comfortable snare strut between shifting guitar tempos (“Descent”) and tom-pounding march about which delicate melodies dance (“Gideon,” “Promised Land”), White acts as metronomic glue for Sugar’s every wile, making it hard to break away from any given moment. And likewise, well before any riff feels to have expired its play, Sugar will flurry a lead, a ringing chord, or simply a complementary progression to keep every song on a healthy stumble.

Never dull and only momentarily questionable, The Promised Land? begs repetition and gives plenty in return. Though the whole of Black Sites’ latest offering may not tickle my deepest listening fantasies—an unquestionable need for music that reaches so deftly into the past—it remains a valuable progression in the Black Sites discography for the chances it takes. Always a gifted songwriter, Sugar continues to settle into an emotional layer in this lane that’s as accessible as its musical backbone and has come a long way over Black Sites’ iterative run. And for those who already see it the Sugar way? Greatness is well within grasp.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Self-Release
Websites: blacksites.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/blacksites
Releases Worldwide: September 6th, 2024

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