(Hard Rock) Black Robot - Black Robot, 2009, MP3 (tracks), 320 kbps

From the opening AC/DC inspired groove, Black Robot serves instant notice with their self-titled debut that not only do they have it, they damn near destroyed the laboratory to get it. The band is the brainchild of founding Buckcherry bassist, Jonathan “JB” Brightman and Detroit-bred front man, Huck Johns. JB began sketching out his futuristic comic-book hero shortly after the turn of millennium in the wake of his departure from Buckcherry, the band that gave him a sweet but fleeting taste of the rock n’ roll dream. “Buckcherry was passing through Detroit opening for Kid Rock,” recalls the motor city songster with the sandpaper-soul pipes. “We met while partying at Alto Reed’s (sax player for Bob Seger) house. We hit it off, stayed in touch, and when I moved to L.A. a couple years later, I crashed on JB’s sofa. We hung out, wrote songs, and started to feel this cool thing evolving.
Black Robot is one formidable effort. It stalks the listener, demands attention, and delivers the way a great rock record should. The players include Yogi Lonich and Devon Glenn, both Buckcherry alumni, guitarist Andy Andersson, Darren Dodd and Chris Powell also lending their solid stick work on percussion, and the legendary session keyboard wizard, Fred Mandell (Elton John, Pink Floyd, Queen) adding some tasty ivory magic to the mix. But perhaps the key figure in crafting the Black Robot sound is producer Dave Cobb.
The title track on the LP cynically shouts, “Self-destruction is our destiny.” Our ebony-plated comic book hero is a metaphor for an uncertain future fixated on the unreal. He can’t help us until we help ourselves. The elixir is music, the secret to survival is located somewhere in the sacred shred that no man, beast, nor ‘bot can cast asunder.
Black Robot has arrived. Now what the fuck are you gonna do about it?