Discovering newer and underappreciated guitarists is always a little difficult to uncover in the world of AI computerised music today. A name that frequently pops up online, on YouTube, in particular, is Chris Buck on this subject. He has been acknowledged by Slash as one of the postmodern guitar greats of today. In addition, he has had a large array of material to choose from during his music career. Notably, he plays a Yamaha Revstar guitar, which is a good alternative to other famous guitars such as the Gibson Les Paul or Fender Stratocaster, the same model of guitar that fellow guitar prodigy Matteo Mancuso plays. Cardinal Black is one of the more recent bands to pop up, specifically, which Chris Buck is in. Although there is little information online to go about for this group, this is their debut album. Let’s take a listen to this album, and we shall judge if it is any good at all.

1. Rise Up begins with some pseudo-Blues vocals and launches into a story about life’s troubles. The guitars are delayed, and this tune sounds good throughout. Indeed, this is a different sort of music style, merging Soul, Gospel, Blues and Rock into a good listen. Straight up, this is not the absolute greatest of music out there in the postmodern world. However, it certainly has a great deal of promise throughout. Its simplicity and message throughout does sound decent, however. Sadly, this could have been bettered with a better mix, production and no diss to the band, a better singer. In any case, this is quite listenable. The guitar solo in the outro is fantastic, however. A good song that could be bettered with a bit more delicate mixing work throughout. Not too bad for three and a half minutes of music.

2. Where Do You Go? begins with some very 1980s sounding guitar work, keyboards and sounds lacking, once again. Sadly, this music sounds like a good idea on paper, but it is ultimately poor. All in all, this could have been better. It does follow a rich history of Rock and Blues Music sensibilities throughout, which is good to hear all the same. It just does not live up to its promise. The music sounds very, very awkward indeed. This is sad, as it does have some potential, but this is ruined by a lacklustre setup of sound. The vocalist is terrible, and this music does not tick the right boxes. Not really very good to hear. Also, this song is extremely repetitive to the nth degree. The guitar solo at the end is good, however. Chris Buck should do more solo work instead.

3. Tell Me How It Feels begins with some processed yet muffled drumbeats and searing guitars, before launching into a song that is an improvement on before. This does sound fresh and unique in its own way. Chris Buck does play a mean guitar on this song. This music is good, but again, not good enough to be sensationally great. This follows an uninspired and formulaic listening experience. Chris Buck’s playing is midtempo, interesting and expressive on this song, however. A lone vocal section indicates a change of things, before launching back into the chorus at hand. A deep, moving and interesting listen, for all its flaws. Chris Buck gets some amazing guitar sounds that are swamped out in this mix, but his solo is unique, joyous and expressive throughout. A solid tune for the most part. This music takes a while to grow on one, but when it does, it hits hard. A good tune to hear. Not bad for a song from this album.

4. Terra Firma begins with some interesting soundscape-based guitar work, bordering on a Surf Rock Ambient Music feel. This quickly launches into a good song about deep emotions and love involved in a relationship. This album, although it is not a strong starter, does grow a little in stature as the listening continues. Chris Buck creates some amazing soundscape-style guitar work, not quite Jimi Hendrix or David Gilmour, just forging his own music path on this song and album. A good song which illuminates some darker human sides of love, this is somewhat ruined by the repetition of the chorus, and the lyrics are honestly not that great. Even so, the sounds and arrangements on this tune are quite different throughout. This album isn’t an outright classic at all. The singing and production and singing need some serious improvement. There is some good drumming in the outro, however. This wraps up with a lot of repetitive singing and a longer-than-acceptable outro.

5. Half Way begins with some Coldplay-style and retro-sounding guitars. This is well played throughout. Soon enough, this song gets going, and it has a funky and punchy bass guitar groove to match it all. This is one of the better songs from this album, and it sounds enjoyable, sing-along and pleasant to hear. A really solid and interesting tune to listen to. This continues the themes of romanticism throughout, but in a very non-sexually oriented way, unlike most male Rock groups do. A much better effort by Cardinal Black. This music is sweet and enjoyable enough to enjoy in a casual listening sort of situation in the background, although serious listeners may find this album a little underwhelming in interest. Still, this is quite a good song to hear. A powerful and moody music statement that is one of the better highlights of this album. A very good effort overall.

6. On My Own begins with some distant thuds and quickly launches into a soundscape piece with loose piano parts and electric guitar riffing. The singing sounds deeper and more personal on this song. Still, this sounds much more like a demo tape rather than a finished music product. Which is disappointing. Even so, the song is a good, dreamy soundscape that has a unique flavour to it all. Not bad, but certainly not perfect, either. Singing about a lover is present here, and it is a very mature and serious statement lyrically throughout this song. A different sounding tune that is very pretty and lively, this music is very good to hear when in a reflective mood. Even so, this does sound like a rather unprofessional, half-baked mix and production to support these guys, and it really should not. Chris Buck’s guitar playing is fantastic on this song, and marching snare drums towards the end emerge. This is a rather lacking listen, all the same. A good try, but again, this is quite lacking. It is also quite long, to be fair. It finishes after five minutes.

7. Ain’t My Time enters into a piece with reverberated guitar and plain vocals with lyrics about being out of step with the rest of the world. Fortunately, this tune is a bit shorter to listen to, and benefits from some more concentrated production and mixing to support this song. It is quite a disappointing and average album so far, even with Chris Buck’s guitar playing. One can definitely hear why this never was a hit album, as it is clear to hear why so. This music does not provide much inspiration, nor is it worth your time. This shorter song is a relief from the lengthy tunes on this album. The guitar work is quite interesting and Psychedelic throughout, all the same. Still, this is not the best that one can hear. It fades out at the end.

8. Jump In begins with some faded in electronics and enters into a good soundscape piece of music with more piano. Chris Buck plays some decent wah-wah guitar on this one as well. This enters into a slowish Rock ballad with some romantic intent throughout. Unfortunately, the romanticism is a bit too much for this style of music to be the theme of every single song on this album. Every song seems like a rather uninspired copy of the one before it. In any case, this is one of the better tunes from this album. All in all, this is a very lacking set of songs that does not inspire. It just sounds really straightforward and ordinary throughout. This song is also too long for its own good. Chris Buck plays a predictable but expressive guitar solo as well. In any case, this is okay but not sensational at this stage. The music is not the greatest, and for its simplicity, it is far too long as a tune in length. You can skip ahead if you really want to by this point. Nothing wonderful or overly special is here. This album definitely could have been edited better. This song finally ends after five and a half minutes in length with a keyboard patch.

9. Warm Love launches right into it with reverberated, watery guitars and vocals, entering into a slightly better song than before. Even so, this is yet again more of the same. This music is too similar in each song for its own good. Nothing wonderful or sensational on this album to truly blow one’s mind away in a music listening session, sadly. The lyric themes are very much the same on every song as well. This is not a really great listen throughout. A very pathetic listening experience is present instead. By this point, one can easily recommend switching off this album and going and having a shot of alcohol instead of listening to this stuff. All in all, this music definitely needs some proper production and editing throughout it all. Enough to bore you stupid or to send one to sleep at this stage. It just isn’t what the world of guitar-based Rock Music needs. The guitar solo is actually quite good on this song, and Chris Buck pseudo-shreds nicely on it. Even so, this does go on and on too much for its own good. It fades out at the end with the guitar solo playing away quite well, however.

10. I’m Ready begins with some sublime guitar licks and has lyrics about working hard to earn money for a living. This sounds good and has a good shuffle groove in the drum section. This is another song about romance-based love, and this is quite a big improvement on what some of the other songs on this album are. This is a much more suspenseful tune at hand, ruined by some fairly unappealing and awful singing throughout. One can hardly imagine this music going anywhere in the long run. This changes drastically in the second half with some neat guitar riffing and fast drums. At last, something different. Chris Buck plays a neat guitar solo throughout, and this sounds loud, punchy and different. This album proves that Chris Buck didn’t need the others to make a good music statement. Perhaps he should take note of this. This music finishes up nicely after four minutes of rather upbeat sounds. Not too bad.

11. Tied Up In Blue is the final track and runs for over eight minutes in length. It begins with a soft, watery guitar part, nothing new here. Vocals enter this tune as this song wraps up this rather bland album. The vocals are the centrepiece to this song, and it soon enters into a slowish Rock Music ballad at hand. Both Blues and Rock Music have done far better than this album. This is very clear and obvious by this point in the album. All in all, Cardinal Black makes average-sounding Rock Music for the 21st century. This song takes far too long to get going and show its true potential as music listening. Overall, this takes too much time to really be considered a classic tune of any sort. A song about failed romance and the consequences from that, this is certainly not a wonderful or powerfully moving tune. By this point in the album, disregard this as one of the many reasons why guitar-based Rock Music isn’t taken at all seriously anymore. You can hit stop and go, and do something else if needed by this point. No amount of pretentious intensity by this group makes this song better. At all. A miss more than a hit. Chris Buck solos away nicely in the second half of this song, but that is about all that is good on this tune. Everything else is very lacklustre. The guitar solo itself is quite good, though. It gradually wraps up with a lone vocal recording (why?) followed by some watery guitar, and this rather unintelligent song wraps up. At last. A real drag of a song and definitely in need of editing.

This is definitely a missed music opportunity by Cardinal Black. There is nothing good about it to call it a classic album, but it is not outright bad either. It lacks good production and needs editing and a better singer to make it a more pronounced effort. So this album is worth a miss, unfortunately. The only really good moments are the guitar soloing. Otherwise, this is a big disappointment. Don’t listen to this unless you really need to.

Boring and average.

5/10