FLORENCE BLACK

Bed Of Nails (self-released)

Two years on from Weight Of The World, Merthyr Tydfil trio Florence Black – having shocked rockers everywhere with how good that debut album was – have done it again. When they want to be, they’re one of the heaviest acts out there, but they do their thing so well as to avoid needless subgenre classification.

Bed Of Nails’ opening three tracks are out-and-out metal: the actual sound of the songs, not to mention the performances, are captured to even better effect here by producer Romesh Dodangoda. The middle section of the album effortlessly slips into radio-friendly (almost country) rock territory, before the up-tempo heavy riffage of The Way Home. But there’s nothing contrived or formulaic here: almost every song could be a single and every song works on its own merits.

Florence Black are a band comfortable in whatever style of rock they choose. It’s almost impossible to pick a standout track from Bed Of Nails, but The Forest is a favourite of this reviewer, while the title track has a chorus hook it’s hard to deny: “We can blow the world away!”

words JOHN-PAUL DAVIES