In Droves is the latest album from Black Map and although it’s by no means a lengthy album, clocking in at just under fifty minutes in duration, it just seems to go on and on. Perhaps it’s down to the whopping fifteen tracks on there (although admittedly three are interludes), or perhaps it’s just because there’s not a great deal of variety between the songs, but it’s just a long hard slog to listen to.
There’s nothing massively memorable about the music on In Droves and although there’s a nice amount of passion to the performance, particularly in the vocals, that only goes so far. Indeed, after several listens of the album, the fact that I still can’t really recall any melodies or choruses from any of the tracks doesn’t really bode well for the band.
It’s a shame because this could be really good as Black Map is not a band that is lacking in talent (it features members from Far, Dredg and Trophy Fire, which are bands I personally enjoy!) and In Droves isn’t bad, as such, it’s just rather underwhelming and decidedly average. Black Maps are capable of better than this.
5/10
