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After his relatively folky, introspective solo debut "Workbook" (1989), Mould seems to deliberately 180, tail-spinning into a harsh, thick hard rock soup for most of the subsequent "Black Sheets Of Rain." The lumbering opening title song sets the tone, with a purposeful arpeggiated riff and dramatic cymbal crashes every couple measures. He picks up the tempo a little on the next two songs, "Stand Guard" and "It's Too Late"; the latter is as poppy as the album gets and was actually kind of a big college radio hit, though the intro copies ELO's "Do Ya" (1976) and he's had dozens of better songs before and since (it also resembles "If I Can't Change Your Mind" (1992)). "Hear Me Calling" and "Out of Your Life" are also relatively peppy and wouldn't be out of place randomly plopped on a Sugar album, especially his melodic lead guitar lines.
But more than half of the album slogs along at most at ponderous mid-tempo, his vocal delivery knob stuck on a pained bellow. No surprise that sonically the album is much closer to Sugar than his former band, but only if every song was "Slick" (it's slow). Actually, "One Good Reason" is like a slightly lethargic, angry "Hoover Dam," while the relatively tuneful "The Last Night" is a real hate-ballad if there every was one.
There are some great moments here and there like the seething pause near the end of sea-shanty-of-rage "Sacrifice/Let There Be Peace," and when he makes fun use of his Strat's whammy. But I don't come to hear Mould grind away at mid-tempo, I come to hear him haul ass. He finally deigns to oblige on "Disappointed"****, the only song anywhere near Husker Du tempo, and non-coincidentally my favorite on the album. Sadly it's a glaring outlier that only makes all the preceding dreary laments (and I have to really think to tell them apart) that much more grueling by comparison. I should empathize with the kind of shit Mould must have been going though to make such a raw, impassioned album, but there's only so much a guy can take.
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