"Black Metallic" is the debut single by English

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band Catherine Wheel, released on 11 November 1991 by

Fontana Records Fontana Records is a record label that started in the 1950s as a subsidiary of the Dutch Philips Records. Fontana Distribution, an independent label distributor, takes its name from the label. History Fontana began in the 1950s as a subsidi ...

. It was later included on the band's 1992 debut studio album ''

Ferment Fermentation is a type of anaerobic metabolism which harnesses the redox potential of the reactants to make adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and organic end products. Organic compound, Organic molecules, such as glucose or other sugars, are Catabo ...

''. The song "broke, and betrothed Catherine Wheel to the American public", hitting No. 9 on ''Billboard'''s

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...

chart and earning "massive attention" due to the band's yearlong American tour and heavy rotation of the song's video on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

. "Black Metallic" also reached No. 68 on the UK Singles Chart.

Reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

critic Amy Hanson said that "Black Metallic" "could probably be counted in the ranks of ballad -- albeit one with a droning guitar and a subsonic wailing that cudgeled the listener over the head, at the same time as caressing them to ecstasy," and noted, "With a deeply textured guitar drone and wallop to lead the way, and backed by a forcefully lazy drum beat,

Rob Dickinson Robert Dickinson (born 23 July 1965) is a British musician, multi-instrumentalist, and singer-songwriter previously of the band Catherine Wheel.Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 664-5 Dickinson was raised ...

's vocals, which he renders quite tender here, play beautifully off the noise behind in an ebb and flow which drains to nothing by the end of the song -- a seven-minute epic".

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Black Metallic 1991 debut singles 1991 songs Fontana Records singles Catherine Wheel songs