A really diverse and mostly instrumental album from the Bad Brains’ bassist proving what a talented and varied musician he really is.
Rating: 
Darryl Jenifer – In Search of Black Judas CD
ROIR
The Bad Brains are without question one of the best and most influential bands of all time, not just in punk rock but in the entire musical world. They took punk, reggae, and rock and fused it into this amazing musical force that has been unrivaled for three decades. While HR also branched out and/or flew off the handle, the other members haven’t branched out very far outside of a couple of them becoming record producers. Darryl Jenifer finally decided to step out on his own and release his first solo album this fall and released it on one of the labels that was an early home to the Bad Brains.
In Search of Black Judas sees Darryl branching out a lot further than the Bad Brains ever did as far as musical experimentation goes. You will find no hardcore songs on this album at all. The song, “Black Judas” is easily the most rock-friendly and hardest song on the album with heavy guitar riffs forming the basis of the first portion of the song which then evolves into a dub/reggae type number. It is the closest thing to resembling his band that you’ll find on this record. From there a lot the songs stay in the dub and reggae categories and are actually mostly instrumental with a lot of samples or small vocal parts. There are some ambient songs as well and even some with a jazzy and blues feel. Darryl does a good job blending all these different styles into some interesting songs and soundscapes proving just what a talent the man really is.
The album has 16 tracks with most of the songs hovering around the three-minute mark. The album flows well as a whole and was a pretty enjoyable listen from start to finish. It would also make a really good album to listen to if you are working. Hopefully Darryl will find time to continue with his solo project in the future as he certainly got off on the right foot with this album.
