Black Tusk – The Way Forward

by Mark 'Yeti' Richard · September 19, 2024

Black Tusk formed in 2005 and is from Savannah, Georgia. They play heavy sludge metal music with punk and hardcore influences. The band has been associated with acts like Kylesa and Baroness. The mentioned Savannah based bands started as playing heavy sludge metal but have changed their musical styles throughout their careers. Black Tusk have remained true to their original sound and continue to pummel the listener with their style of heavy and aggressive music. Original bassist Jonathan Athon was tragically killed in a motorcycle crash and passed away on November 9th, 2014. The band kept things going and the current lineup consists of the originators, Andrew Fidler on guitar and vocals, and James May on drums and vocals. They added Derek Lynch on bass and vocals, and long-time collaborator Chris “Scary”Adams on guitar. Adams recorded, mixed, produced, and mastered the new record, entitled, The Way Forward. The album contains 11 songs, around 36 minutes long and was released on April 26th, 2024. It came out on Season Of Mist Records.

Black Tusk have released eight full length albums prior to The Way Forward. The discography is as follows: 2007’s The Fallen Kingdom, 2008’s Passage Through Purgatory, 2010’s Taste The Sin, 2011’s Set the Dial, 2016’s Pillars of Ash, 2018’s T.C.B.T., and 2020’s Years in Black. They also released three EPs including 2005’s When Kingdoms Fall , 2013’s Tend No Wounds, and 2014’s Vulture’s Eye, and various Split EPs with a few different bands.

The first track on The Way Forward is called “Out Of Grasp.” It’s a blistering song of mid paced hardcore with nasty high and low trade off vocals. Guitar slides and pounding drums with heavy riffing throughout. At the minute and a half point, the song has a guitar lead riff followed by some heavy accenting beat downs with vicious vocals. The next song “Brushfire” starts with vocals and kicks right in with a heavy rhythm. It’s another brutal song and even has some spoken vocals on one part. “Harness(The Alchemist)” starts with bass and drums and has a chugging riff that quickly goes into a fast hardcore rhythm. The song boasts some cool metal riffage and killer harmonies. “Lessons Through Deception” has a slower build up with pulsating picking that explodes into a punk frenzy. The fifth song “Breath Of Life” is the band’s longest track on the album, clocking in at just over five minutes. It’s got a cool rocking flow with a nice metal edge to it. The sixth track “Dance On Your Grave” starts with heavy accents with a fuzzy bass overdrive. It kicks into a hardcore rhythm with abrasive vocals. It’s got a vicious punk flow throughout with some good guitar squealing leads in the solo. “Against The Undertow” has some good pounding drumming with pick sliding into a pummeling rhythm. The music delivers some nasty riffing with a few pauses to enhance the heavy break downs. “Lift Yourself” is another onslaught of hardcore riffing spiced up with noisy leads and vocal annihilation.

The Way Forward has a positive message despite the harsh and angry music. As stated by the band: “The big theme of this record is putting your life back together.” That’s Black Tusk guitarist/vocalist Andrew Fidler talking about the new album. “When everything seems like it’s against you, put your head down and push through. Take those bad things that are happening and use them to help create.” The music itself sounds really full and heavy on this record because of the addition of a second guitarist. This allowed Black Tusk to really explore and expand the guitar sound with harmonies and leads. They also incorporate a quadruple vocal assault.

“Ocean Of Obsidian” is an atmospheric interlude of swirling guitars that leads right into “Flee From Dawn”. The three and a half minute song rides on tempo breaks and flowing rhythms. It’s got an old school Black Tusk essence reminiscent to their Relapse Records debut, Taste The Sin record. Finally, the title track “The Way Forward” completes the album. The song begins with acoustic guitars that blaze into a flowing metal rhythm. The dual guitar harmonies are an added element to the Black Tusk sound with some excellent ripping leads throughout.

After nearly twenty years of existence, the band manages to retain the sludge metal assault and hardcore roots from the early years, and emerge with an added enhancement to their overall sound. The Way Forward is a new era for Black Tusk who have delivered a devastating victory in heavy music today.