BlackLab new album Abyss and first UK appearance at Desertfest, London

NHS is very pleased to announce, that BlackLab ‘the dark witch doom duo from Osaka, Japan’ are poised to return with their new long playing record ‘ABYSS’.

BlackLab’s first lp ‘Under The Strawberry Moon 2.0’ was released in 2018, and set Yuko Morino (Guitar, vocals) and Chia Shiraishi (Drums) loose on the world. 

The first album was a remixed collection of the band’s early tracks, a melting pot of influences as they set out to inhabit their own space.

Now with ‘ABYSS’ the band are very much defining what that space is.

Once again, the album was produced by Jun Morino in Osaka, and mixed in London by Wayne Adams (Pet Brick, Green Lung, Cold In Berlin) and is an uncompromising beast of a record. 

In fact ‘Abyss’ is the perfect title, a dark looming void that summons the listener …

dive in if you dare.

Recorded under a full moon over three intense days, the album has the ‘off the leash’ abandon of ‘Fun House’ era ‘Stooges’ and is marked by a fat dose of doom meets slowed down hardcore punk; filled with loud, ultra distorted guitar, and yet, a surprising amount of melody as well. 

The guitars are loud and heavily gnarled to the point of chaos. 

Vocals go from shoegaze melodic to hardcore screams (in fact rarely has a vocalist in this genre screamed so musically as Yuko does) and underneath all this, Chia batters the skins, all rolling and tumbling thunder amidst the riffs. 

Yes there is a smattering of ‘Sabbathy Wizarding’ of course, but submerged within dark, deep fuzz and punk rock crank and grind. 

In truth the vibe is closer to both the arty heaviness of early Boris, and the sweet savagery of My Bloody Valentine, than any kind of ‘doom’ tropes.

It’s a sound that is undoubtedly BlackLab’s own.

Set for release on May 8th 2020, like all NHS releases, there will be a limited edition 3 colour Green, yellow and black cosmic swirl vinyl with a free download, and it will also be available on CD and Digital.

BUY LINK HERE: https://smarturl.it/BlacklabAbyss

On top of all that the band are due to play Desertfest in London, their first gig outside Japan. On Friday May 1st at the Underworld,

Desertfest Tickets here: https://link.dice.fm/desertfest20