Release:

High Roller Records
Release date: 5. Oct. 2018
Distribution: Soulfood

Info:

PROFESSOR BLACK is the name of a new and unrestricted outlet for songwriter and recording artist Chris Black as he enters his next creative phase. Although Chris is recognized today as the frontman for Chicago’s exhilarating hard rock troupe High Spirits, he has meanwhile been active since the late 1990s with a range of other ongoing bands and projects. No longer willing to simply create a new band identity for each new musical idea, or to cling to the precedents and expectations of existing band identities, Chris decided in 2017 to move forward under a single name. That name is intended to capture as much as possible of Chris’s work outside of High Spirits, whether as a recording artist or live act. PROFESSOR BLACK starts off strong in 2018, including the "You Bastard!" EP and a pair of 7” singles released earlier in the year. But the proper introduction comes in October, when High Roller Records will release the first three full-length PROFESSOR BLACK albums simultaneously. Of course, something different can be found with each one…

 

"I am the Rock"

In case you missed the album cover, the opening bass chords of "I am the Rock" are unmistakable. This is one bastard-hearted motorizer of an LP, with an ear for all four decades of the greatest rock and roll we ever knew. It’s a dedicated, die-hard trip through the ages, outdone in its adolescent glory only by its dead-seriousness, and vice versa. The drums are tasty, the guitars swing hard, and the vocal harmonies are spot-on. The lyrics don’t hold anything back either: true to form, true to life. And it serves you right!

Tracklist:
1. Get It On
2. Bad News
3. Dance of Death
4. Hired Gun
5. Watch What You Say
6. Shakedown
7. End of the Line
8. Don't Talk to Me
9. Three Devils
10. I am the Rock
11. Hard to Please

Line-up:
Chris Black – drums, bass, voice
Mark Sugar – rhythm and lead guitars

 

"LVPVS"

"LVPVS" (Latin for “wolf”) is the most collaborative and also the most musically-obscure of the albums, consisting of four lengthy compositions which rise and fall, shift and twist unexpectedly through different melodic scenes. Built from an archived recording session with esteemed engineer Sanford Parker (Indian, Leviathan, Yob), the album also features significant musical contributions from JWW (Khorada, ex-Agalloch), Jussi Lehtisalo (Circle, Pharaoh Overlord), and Chris Black’s longtime bandmate and session partner Matt Johnsen. Be forewarned: "LVPVS" is instrumental, experimental, and full of riddles. It could prove divisive, but for those who fall into its trap, a grim fascination, the sound of an elusive savage in the throes of its next mutation.

Tracklist:
1. Habeas Corpus
2. Too Soon
3. Stations
4. Every Second

Line-up:
JWW – bass guitar
J. Lehtisalo – keyboards
Matt Johnsen – lead guitar
P. Black – drums, rhythm guitar, lead guitar track 2

 

"Sunrise"

"Sunrise" features the more ethereal and atmospheric aspects of Chris Black’s songwriting, and is musically inspired by some of his biggest heroes in the heavy metal singer/songwriter realm: Blackie Lawless, Rolf Kasparek, and Ace “Quorthon” Forsberg. It is a work of iron-handed solitude, where the power of the song comes before all else, and where all lyrical waters will be explored, no matter how unfamiliar. Sunrise should be a swift favorite amongst Chris’s longtime fans, for it is deeply-rooted in certain earlier works, all united in their stubborn, progressive spirit.

Tracklist:
1. Die By the Sun
2. In the Fire and the Rain
3. No Way Back
4. Gathering Stone
5. Closer to Death
6. Everyone Knows
7. Fall From on High
8. You and I

Line-up:
Chris Black – all instruments and vocals

 

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