Black Light Burns

‘Cover Your Heart and the Anvil Pants Odyssey’

I:AM Wolfpack

Wes Borland is a brilliant man. I know that and I think he knows that. And I’m pretty sure Fred Durst realizes that every time he hears Black Light Burns on the radio at whatever gas station he works at now.

BLB’s sophomore record, the cover/instrumental/DVD ‘Cover Your Heart and the Anvil Pants Odyssey,’ is cooky and innovative to say the very least. Ironically enough this album started as the proper follow-up to ‘Cruel Melody,’ but Borland apparently got sidetracked along the way, and thus, this album was born.

I’ll be the first guy to say, I absolutely love cover songs and cover albums. Ok, Ok, besides Sheryl Crow’s blasphemous desecration of Guns N’ Roses ‘Sweet Child of Mine.’ Yes, there are bad covers, but there are good ones too, as in the case of this record.

Let’s look at this record in two parts, not counting the DVD portion.

Part one, ‘Cover Your Heart’ is a true covers record. Each song is covered intricately, as you would expect from the former Limp Bizkit/current Marilyn Manson guitar player, as he adds his own personal Black Light Burns touch to each song. Borland doesn’t settle for mere singles and radio hits as would be expected, instead delving into deeper cuts and more obscure tracks. ‘Cover Your Heart’ is a trip into Black Light Burns musical tastes, covering tracks from bands like Love and Rockets, Sisters of Mercy, Jesus Lizard and Iggy and the Stooges, and even offer a new take on Borland’s own Big Dumb Face song ‘Blood Red Head on Fire.’ Their only cover of a single, Duran Duran’s ‘Hungry Like the Wolf,’ sounds almost worlds away from the original, and that’s the charm of it.

Part two, the instrumental tracks. This is where the record gets diverse, but not lost, as these seven tracks work tirelessly to show not only the talent, but the musical dexterity of the boys in Black Light Burns. It is definitely a nice touch.

It is a semi-odd move to have a covers/instrumental as your second album, but hey, it’s Wes Borland and its Black Light Burns. You don’t know what to expect. Cruel Melody was nothing short of astonishing and exciting, and ‘Cover Your Heart and the Anvil Pants Odyssey’ doesn’t fail to impress. 

Grade: A

Listen to: ‘Hungry Like the Wolf,’ ‘Lucretia My Reflection’