BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION

V (Mascot)

The supergroup you can’t quite believe exists is back and perhaps better than ever. Made from members of bands that can only be described as hard rock royalty – Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Dream Theater, Black Sabbath – Black Country Communion are 15 years into their side project and have finally perfected the formula on fifth album V.

There is a lot of Zep influence – unsurprisingly, with John Bonham’s grandson Jason on drums – and as a result V has more groove and more freedom than previous Black Country Communion albums, which veered more towards prog. Not that Glenn Hughes and Derek Sherinan don’t get a chance to show off their impressive playing on songs that are mostly on the long side. But it’s testament to the balance within the band that there is enough room for bluesmaster extraordinaire Joe Bonamassa to show everyone how it’s done with some scorching playing. One slightly weaker song just holds this back from being a top-class album, but every other track is worthy of repeated listens.

words JOHN-PAUL DAVIES