By Martin Bradesca, Contributor

[Ninjatune; 2025]

Rating: 7/10

Key Tracks: “Besties,” “Two Horses,” “For the Cold Country”

Finally, three years after dropping the critically acclaimed Ants From Up There and subsequently losing singer Isaac Wood, Black Country, New Road have returned with their third studio album Forever Howlong. Differing substantially from their angsty Slint-inspired debut For the first time, this new release strays toward baroque and chamber rock, which was explored to a lesser extent on their sophomore release Ants From Up There. Forever Howlong proves that despite lineup changes, the band can still create interesting, creative and groundbreaking music.

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The album opens with one of its singles, “Besties,” which features violinist Georgia Ellery on lead vocals. Her, along with Tyler Hyde and May Kershaw split vocal duties on the project. One of the most energetic tracks on the album, the lofty sax and soaring harmonies create an enticing contrast to the plucky and fun verses. 

Out of the four songs north of six minutes on the project, “Two Horses,” a cowboy inspired epic, is most deserving of its length. It also deserves the diverse instrumentation the project brings the most, featuring plucking banjos, tremolo mandolin, all starting slow before building to a quick and galloping pace. The track features beautifully written lyrics full of faraway travel, longing and betrayal, typical of a western track. 

“Happy Birthday” feels the most like typical BCNR, featuring cynical lyrics and ornate, driving instrumentation. The lyrics draw from the band’s struggle with acclimating to fame and not feeling quite comfortable despite their success: “Many people would give an arm and a limb/to live where you live.”

Despite the appearance of success, many fans might not realize the difficulties of being a working musician in the streaming era. This line cuts especially deep considering that a former member left due to challenges dealing with fame.

While much of the album is exciting and musically intriguing, at times the musical content comes second to the narrative of the project. Some of the aforementioned six minute tracks can tend to drag on with extended instrumental ideas. While on previous BCNR releases this would build into an amazing climax like on “Basketball Shoes,” on this album tracks like “For the Cold Country” do not always hold their weight. In addition, while the vocal performances on the album are mostly beautiful and extremely melodic, it can be argued that many of them do not match the soulful and angsty heights that former singer Isaac Wood brought to the band. While this is unavoidable with such a jarring switch in sound, the group handles it well, maintaining the quality standard of lyrics Isaac set with previous albums.

Overall, Forever Howlong shines most because of its clever lyrics, lush instrumentation and beautifully intricate songwriting. It is obvious how much time and consideration went into each track, even the ones which felt underwhelming still had something worthy to offer. While the album can feel a tad too dense for an initial listen, this can actually work in its favor by allowing countless layers to peel back with subsequent listens. While not as genre and period-defining as Ants From Up There, Forever Howlong is still definitely a worthy addition to the BCNR catalogue.

Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3PP6ghmOlDl2jaKaH0avUN?si=buk7MO28S5u2jcD9LI_uhA