Motive Black: Auburn

Have you ever been at a gig and realised that you might just be the oldest person in the room? I’ve been there a few times over the years and I can’t say it’s something that bothers me, but when that experience then turns into shared teen-angst between artist and audience, then Pops over here feels just a little out of place… That’s pretty much how Auburn, the debut from Motive Black leaves me - I can and have enjoyed this album, but deep down I know it was never made with my 50 year old ass in mind.

I’m not sure if you can really call this endeavour a band, front-woman Elena Justin seemingly the only actual member of Motive Black (at least judging by the CD booklet anyway), with this talented young lady and producer (and guitarist?) Nicholas Rowe credited between them as having written (Elena) or co-written (Rowe) all of the tracks. That said we do get some pretty special guests to keep the party on track, Butcher Babies’ Carla Harvey singing on opening (and closing) number “Lift Me Up�, Marcos Curiel (POD) playing guitars on “Broken�, while Ray Luzier (Korn) provides drums on five tracks. The rest, I’m guessing, comes from Justin and Rowe, but detail is scant.

What isn’t in short supply is anger and emotion within the songs and lyrics, with the gritty, riffed up but still easily accessible metal that accompanies the words pretty much in step with what you could imagine fans of both Butcher Babies and Avril Lavigne getting right behind. It’s catchy, hook laden, heavy in all the right places and very much from the heart - but that doesn’t mean it always connects.

There’s an air of the ‘manufactured’ about the whole shebang, with a feeling that everything is neatly squeezed into a box that the intention of “Cellophane�, “Broken� or “Fight Alone� should never be constrained by, but then as mentioned at the top of this review, those are maybe more issues that I bring to this album than it presents to an audience that I’m guessing Motive Black think are more likely to be jumping onboard. Auburn is an interesting, if reasonably predictable release that seems to rely more on raw energy and emotion than it does much else to get its message across. That’s maybe the switch that will be flicked with the audience it’s aimed at, but it doesn’t light the spark for me.

Track Listing
1. Lift Me Up
2. Broken
3. Let Down
4. Caged
5. Purge
6. Cellophane
7. Bad Decisions
8. Fake
9. Fight Alone
10. Auburn
11. Lift Me Up (Radio Edit)

Added: July 31st 2023
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Motive Black online
Hits: 374
Language: english

[ Printer Friendly Page ]
[ Send to a Friend ]