If big, loud guitar riffs are your thing then fresh out of Denmark we have something you’re going to absolutely love in the form of Black Income.
The trio of lead guitarist and vocalist Henrik Thrane, bassist and backing vocalist Michael Gerfdorf and drummer Lars Olrik – what a name for a drummer! – have honed an intoxicating brand of fuzzy, grungey guitar-led rock that they summarise as “hard rock dark grunge metal,” which instantly gets our vote.
The band, who are signed to independent Danish label Tube It – Music, are keen to push their rock sound and stand out from the mass of turgid noise filling the popular airwaves. As Henrik tells us: “We’re writing a lot of songs at the moment, we’re aiming to get noticed in the polluted music industry, where everybody is releasing crappy sounding autotune music.
“We see good bands stop playing all the time, because it’s so hard to make a living from your music today, and it’s hard to keep your head above water. It’s really a struggle caused by all the crappy music making all the noise you have to break through to get noticed. You have to keep trying as an artist and grow your fanbase, but it’s hard work that’s for sure.”
The trio are currently working on their second album but revealed the latest sign of what’s to come with new single Drug on Friday. It opens up in style with a big funky riff that drops into a crooning vocal-led verse with bursts of guitar in the background, then a cool synthy sound kicks in through a second verse. A singalong verse follows ending on a couple of cries of “Drug” then building guitar chords drop into another Soundgarden-like verse. The guitar chords repeat after the second chorus then drop into repeats of “Rolling away like any drug, Wasting away like any drug” followed by smashes of guitar chords that bring the track to a heavy ending.
The upcoming album follows 2016 debut effort Noise Pollution, of which Henrik tells us: “We write about all different things, but with this album it was the fucked world we’re all living in.”
Having inspired by the likes of Queens Of The Stone Age, Foo Fighters, Alice in Chains and Nirvana, Henrik tells us he likes to think Black Income has its own definition of “Grungey yet stoned kinda fuzzy sound,” which is a pretty apt description of what we’ve heard from the trio thus far.
It’s perhaps best epitomised by Feels Like A Storm, released last year, which features a deliciously cool chugging guitar riff with darts of high-pitched guitar over the top that you can’t help but love, and then rolls into a big rock out underneath a swift guitar solo that brings the track to an end. Check it out in the video below:
The way this song makes you feel ties in with the desire that the band have for creating great music. As Henrik tells us: “The best thing about being a band is you sometimes get to touch people like no other art form can really. The ability to sit with your guitar and write stuff that people go MAD about… that’s worth much more than money or fame to us.
Black Income are currently working on their second album and will be gigging in Denmark over the next couple of months. And, if you like what you hear from the guys then you could well be in luck, as Henrik explains: “Actually our manager mentioned something about going to tour the UK when our album is out, but we have to get back to you on that one.”
You can follow Black Income on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and check out their music on Spotify and YouTube.
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