Search - Black Widow :: III

A good effort that doesn't hold up to the legacy

Madman | Iowa | 02/04/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"For a band that established themselves by holding mock Satanic rituals of nude women during their shows, you'd expect that the bold moves continually get bolder. The reverse is true for Black Widow who stormed onto the scene with such vengeance and infamy that even Black Sabbath tried to distance themselves from the satanic folk rock band.



While Black Widow's original effort owed a lot of its success to the crazy stage antics and unbelievable reputation of the band, the music was not only solid, but actually displayed great musicianship with beautiful rythyms, melodies, and arrangements. Of course you had your acoustic guitars, drums, and bass, but for an extra bit of attitude they added an organ, a flute, and a fiddle.



These songs would range from mellow and soulful to upbeat and even slightly deranged (at least as deranged as you could imagine a folk song).



Despite all of the fixings for an outstanding if not intriguing band, Black Widow's reputation backfired on them. Because of this they distanced themselves more and more from the image that they had initially built and by their 3rd release, simply entitled III, that image was more or less gone along with a few of the original band members.



III isn't a bad album by any means but it doesn't have that same fire that Sacrifice did which without a doubt, set them apart from anybody else at that time, folk band or not. III however could easily be mistaken for any other folk band out there.



The melodies aren't nearly as powerful or complex and the material never really has much of a punch.



For fans of Black Widow, III can easily be appreciated as another album by the notorious group without the ingredients that made them Black Widow.



Perhaps this album was done in order to make them more mainstream in which case, that backfired too. Either way, the album is good but doesn't match up to their previous efforts and signified that the end was near for a band that made quite a mark in the world of stage theatrics and imagery."

Nice work

William R. Nicholas | Mahwah, NJ USA | 05/15/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is early 70s prog, drenched in Hammond B-3 with lots of long jams. The sound is a mix of this, and heavy rock.



But this is no gaudy ELP or Trace record. Black Widow 3 was made before most of the self-indulgeance that infected progressive rock arrived; before the style became an arena act. This work is as tasteful as pre-Dark Side Pink Floyd, or any of the early Vertigo bands--one of the guys from Cressida even joined after that wonderfully tastefull band broke up.



If all that doesn't sell you, buy this for "Sun" an amazing ballad that could have come straight off of Atom Heart Mother. It is beautifully melodic and meloncolly, one of the most gorgeous songs i have ever heard.



The rest of the record is also very good, and well worth having"