“SCRATCHING MY ITCH” IN ALL THE RIGHT PLACES. THE DEBUT ALBUM BY BLACK CAT 6

Tracklist:
01. Fight 03:43
02. Don’t Hesitate 04:12
03. Let Me Be Me 03:34
04. Lose Your Way 04:52
05. You’re A Liar 03:15
06. Saying It Out Loud 03:31
07. Can’t Go Home 04:11
08. I’ve Been Missing You 04:00
09. Black Cat 04:06

If Steve Walsh had fronted Deep Purple this is what it would probably sound like on this new album. Please welcome BLACK CAT 6 and their rocking out debut right off the mark.

Black Cat 6 features Grammy winning musician/producer/engineer, Neil Citron, Live/Session drummer, Luke Fattore, and bassist, Jon Pomplin (Declassified Records). Of course for those of you who have read my previous ‘album heads up’ a couple of months ago you will recognise both Neil and Jon’s names from the slew of studio albums released by BangTower.

As said, Deep Purple was the first band that came to my mind when I heard some of these tracks for the first time. “ Yes,” commented Neil Citron. “We totally wanted to sound like a heavy version of Deep Purple. The songs are about Vegas relationships and how people here are great or horrible and no in between!”

After relocating to Nevada, Neil Citron began doing sessions with drummer Luke Fattore on various recording projects both as a guitarist and producer/engineer. Immediately they hit it off and following the successful release of his latest album with “BangTower” and plans to tour on temporary hold, Neil began recording some basic tracks with Luke for a couple songs he’d recently written that were more vocal based rock. It became apparent very quickly this new music was something special. They enlisted bassist and label owner Jon Pomplin and the songs were added to and finished within a few weeks.

“From a bassist standpoint, I’m a huge DP fan personally and I am sure it has some influence on the heavier stuff I play,” Jon pointed out. “Neil used an 8 and a 7 (with the 6) string guitar on this album which gives is grittier/heavier feel (IMO). I played 5 string bass on all but one track.”

BangTower’s “The Road We Travel

To be honest I don’t know if there is any soul searching channeling going on within and coming to terms with bitter experiences (that good ol’ “what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger” pep talk at the ready) but the song titles for this album certainly suggest some kind of ownership of the blunt side happening and being put out there. “Fight,” “Lose your Way,” and “You’re A Liar” doesn’t exactly bode a Hallmark moment any time soon 🙂 Then again this is a hard out, Hard Rock album reminiscent of the 70’s and the 80’s genre to these ears. “Fight” is a good track to start off with. It really does set the tone of what is to come. It quickly bought to mind Purple’s “Perfect Strangers” period with a good dose of pounding and grinding (Ooh er, steady on, missus!) undertones moving the music forward. In other words Black Cat 6 bring the right kind of heavy signature sound to this album. “Don’t Hestitate” has all the pacing of “You Fool No One” from ‘Burn’ so you can see where I’m going with this. ‘Scratching My Itch’ is a full on Hard Rock, ball bashing, bounding bass, fantastic guitar licks, meaty pulverizing drums with a solid vocal performance throughout. “Saying it Right Out Loud” is probably the only softer yet melodic ballad, “raise your lighters to the band homage” piece on this album. This one is my firn favourite on a good first showing from this band. Check it out.