The Afghan Whigs hit a high-water mark with 1993's
Gentlemen, an album that upped their game musically and plumbed the depth of
Greg Dulli's self-loathing with its tales of a ladies' man whose attitude toward women (and himself) borders on the malignant. It was the band's finest and most most ambitious work, and the band was faced with the challenge of trying to top it with 1996's
Black Love. The performances on
Black Love are every bit as strong as those on
Gentlemen, as
Rick McCollum's mix of hard rock riffing and wailing slide guitar grew even stronger and the rhythm section laid down a beat that hit hard but retained a bit of their more graceful R&B influences. And vintage soul and funk were a significantly bigger part of the band's formula this time out, with the keyboards on "Bulletproof," the strings and percussion on "Blame, Etc.," and the hip-hop-influenced percussion on "Going to Town" serving as key signifiers. The band was in great form on
Black Love, even if
Greg Dulli's songwriting wasn't as impressive, though songs like "My Enemy," "Honky's Ladder," and "Night by Candlelight" are striking and well crafted.
The Afghan Whigs were too good a band to make an album that wasn't worth hearing, and the musicians blaze hard on
Black Love, one of their toughest-sounding works. ~ Mark Deming