The power of a guitar chord moving through the spine of a rock song is a unique aural experience. In the track, Belief, in Blakc’s latest album, Chemical Liaisons, it is a thing of magic. The song begins with a singular guitar motif before moving into heavy chords that are worth head-banging to. “It is one of the tracks I enjoyed as well,” admits guitarist Anish Menon. Released yesterday, the album contains signatures of each band member’s style, influences and a clear sign of intent from the veteran Mumbai band.

“We started out as a grunge alt-rock band, and have since been evolving,” Menon shares. Chemical Liaisons is their fourth album, and follows the 2021 EP, What is time. The quintet of Menon, Reinhardt Dias (guitarist), Shawn Pereira (vocals), Shawn Phulpagar (bass) and Varun Sood (drums) began work on the album in 2022. “Although some of the tracks like Madness and The Book have been around from previous albums. The Book, for instance, did not make the cut for Motheredland (2012),” Menon reveals.