Lana Blac – Suck You In
Shards of metallic might meet soothing slices of melody in heavy rock temptress Lana Blac’s all new single Suck You In. Borrowing only slightly from the titans of metal’s storied past, Blac isn’t shy about assaulting us with a wall of contemporary industrial noise that is brilliantly tempered by an even-keeled mix more common among mainstream rock bands.
Though hardly a “sell out” song by any stretch of your imagination, Suck You In combines streamlined production cues with textured grooves and walloping riffs that will satisfy even the most discriminating of metalheads, and in my opinion it gives us an excellent look into the depth of its multidimensional songwriter. Lana Blac’s flame is burning bright in the underground at the moment, but a single like this could really serve to expand her audience if given the appropriate platform.
The first thing that really catches my attention with this song is the percussion. It’s brutal, raw and frowzy from the get-go, but in all the right ways. The tempo is surprisingly restrained, but that doesn’t stop the drums from mincing the reverberated harmonies that come cascading over the main riff.
Blac dexterously struts between the beats without a care in the world – her vocal is so focused and on point that there could be a hurricane destroying everything behind her and she wouldn’t flinch. The melody itself is stoic and saturated in scooped distortion, but it too encourages us to keep a close eye on the percussion, which is somehow as captivating as Blac’s searing voice is.
When we closely analyze the bones of Suck You In it isn’t difficult to spot the bassline creeping around just behind the verses Blac dispenses amidst the chaos. It wraps around the vocals beautifully and cushions them from the black and white grit of the guitar play. As furious as the mood becomes, especially when we reach the song’s post-chorus climax, nothing ever gets too out of control or unhinged in this single.
From the bass and vocals to the drums and guitar and even the gnawing, eerie synthesized keys glaring at us from the shadows, everything is wonderfully synchronized from start to finish. This sort of meticulous arranging tells me that Blac could possibly take the helm of a classical/metal hybrid track and perhaps give just as powerful a performance as she does here.
Packed with vibrant contributions from her backing band as well as the star of the show herself, Lana Blac’s Suck You In doesn’t just excite us with a lot of virtuosity and impossibly calculated riffing; it provokes deeper thought with its rigidity and contrasting aesthetics. The master mix is quite refined, epic even, and I think you could probably run through the production with a fine-tooth comb and find that Blac doesn’t shortcut us on any artistic level here.
She lets go of any inhibition that she might have once had and pounds her melody into us with both fists – the results are excellent to put it mildly. This is top shelf work from a very intriguing young artist, and hopefully her debut album Nocturnalis but the first of many daring LPs she’ll treat metal fans around the world too.
If you enjoyed Lana Blac’s Suck You In, check out her official website by clicking here. Give her a like on Facebook by clicking here & a follow on Twitter by clicking here.
