Black Tiger
s/t

Some say, and with some I mean the press material, that Czech band Black Tiger was the only representative of the AOR genre in the nation when they started out in 2010. That would have to mean that The Czech Republic is a rather underdeveloped nation from a musical standpoint, but they make lousy cars too. I do however think that they probably aren’t or weren’t alone in the AOR-genre, but it is quite difficult to really know as google is useless as usual and I don’t really know that much of the Czech music scene but I would say that it unlikely to have just one band in said genre that is a very popular genre that has existed for over thirty years in the rest of the world and you can hardly claim that The Czech Republic is some backwater nation in the remote rainforests of Africa – or can you?

This self-titled album is their debut album, they have three EPs that they have self-released in the baggage before it and it is kind of clear that they have been working on their sound for a while. The album can be described as melodic rock or AOR, with strong focus on melodies and strong choruses. Decent vocals, albeit a bit limited in range it seems. The same can be said about the tempo that is generally quite low and I miss some more up-tempo hit songs in the list of songs. The sound is excellent though but the album seems a bit on the long side, mostly due to the similitude of the vocals throughout and the lack of up-tempo songs.

Creatively they still have ways to go, they thread on well-threaded paths doing the tired, sorry tried, and tested things that most bands do. You can’t really fault the performance or production but I miss some thinking outside the box. It is a little bit sterile this album, missing imagination and fantasy. But it is also a good album, it is fairly enjoyable to listen to with nice songs like She’s a Liar and Silent Cry to name a pair that I think makes a pretty good impression. It is an album that is easy to like, but it is also quite easy to forget as the lack of memorable tracks starts to shine through after hearing the album a second time.

Fans of the melodic rock/AOR will probably find this a rather good album, and if you are one of those I recommend that you take a closer look at it. As a debut it stands up fairly well I think, paired with a more exciting second album it could be a start of something very interesting. The problem is though that while most people who hear this will like it, they will also forget it very quickly as the album is not good enough nor creative enough to make much of an impression. The conclusion could be that it is a good album but the artwork is probably its strongest point.

HHHHHHH