Black Dust Review

Band	Y-DI
Album	Black Dust
Type	Album (Studio full-length)
Released	1985
Genres	Hardcore Punk, Sludge Metal
Labels	Blood Bubble Records
Length	40:00

Reviewer :  KnightInOctober         Rating :  80 / 100

After unleashing the brutal Thrash/Hardcore assault that was their 1983 EP, "A Place In The Sun", Y-DI then decided to tread on a different path for the first (and also final) record, "Black Dust" (which is reputed to have been a concoction of PCP, heroin and formaldehyde). The Philadelphian band still retains their savage style of Hardcore, except that they have now made it sluggish, heavier and even metallic (up to the point where it actually resembles something like primitive Sludge Metal, although most of the tracks here don't completely get down to a snail's crawl). It's almost as if the Y-DI gang was smoking the very same drug concoction that this album was named after while listening to Black Sabbath's "Vol. 4", "The Album" from Flipper and "My War"-era Black Flag (which in particular seems to have been a huge inspiration). Y-DI also decided to jam-pack their tunes with extensive guitar solos. Michael Kingnigger (quite an outrageous pseudonym, ha) often sounds like if he is a guitarist from some Noise Rock band attempting to play in the flashy style of Eddie Van Halen (or some other famed guitar shredder)... and coming up a bit short of the expectation. While subtle, various of the tracks here have a sort of Rock 'N' Roll swagger to them as well. Front-man Neil Perry (dubbing himself here as "Jackal Ssexzombie") remains just as aggressive and misanthropic as ever. Jackal actually sounds as if he's on steroids here as he belts out some deep, menacing growls (occasionally, also tortured shrieks. At times, the man has a tendency of sounding like a wounded animal or something). "Black Dust" is largely an unknown and underappreciated record that was quite distinctive for its time. More likely than not, it won't be easily digested by the uninitiated, seeing as how it tends to be terribly crude and dissonant, but I've always gotten the appeal.