The Black Heart Procession (The Fillmore, 16 June 2006)

Black Heart's The Spell is one of the great albums released this year. Unfortunately, nobody really knows it. This San Diego band has been around for years and deserve more notoriety than what they are given. However, I doubt that they care much about fame and popularity -- epsecially since such things come naturally when you write fantastic songs.

Black Heart was on early at the Fillmore. The venue barely had 50 people inside when they went on stage to play their first song. They played a good range of songs from their discography. I'm only a newcomer to Black Heart, so I didn't really know song titles or some of the songs they played. I know though that they didn't play anything from Amore del Tropico which is a shame since I like that album a lot.

From the songs that they did play from The Spell, I recognized "Tangled," a beautiful "Not Just Words", the haunting sounds of "The Letter", a slow and meandering "Return to Burn," the heart pounding "GPS", and a rather poppy version of "The Fix".

For several songs, they also utilized an oboe sliding through a saw for extra sounds. I could barely hear it however.

What Black Heart lacks in stage presence makes up tenfold with their songs. This was a great show, despite the lack of theatrics. The songs spoke for itselves and everyone knew it.

Beer Rating: 1/2