It is here, it is masterful, it is heartening and it represents today's best from an R&B/soul perspective. Black Messiah has come and we weren't ready.
Black Messiah seems even more distinct, even more complete, even more total than its predecessors.
Once again, he brilliantly distills years spent studying the arrangements and analog recording techniques of that music into a personal style that carves out its own space between rhythm and melody.
Is this the Second Coming of Sly, or Prince, or Stevie, or Marvin? No. This is the Second Coming of D’Angelo, not a close second, but a continuation of that lineage. We’ve waited fifteen years for his finest album to date.
Black Messiah confirms that music holds the power to challenge and comfort, to take us someplace spiritual, political, and existential. It’s beautifully, devastatingly human.
D’angelo’s music is soul against evil. Murder, racism, violence, oppression, hatred: Black Messiah is protest music, healing music, a bomb and a balm.
The mere existence of his third album evinces that, creatively, he's doing all right. That the album reaffirms the weakest-link status of his singular debut is something else.
Black Messiah is a dictionary of soul, but D'Angelo is the rare classicist able to filter the attributes of the greats in the canon into a sound distinctly his own.
An artist of uncompromising power and originality, he has proven that he will not, cannot conform to the expectations of the music industry, his adoring fans, or anyone else. He is a delicate, impulsive genius of rare distinction, and this defiant streak is essential to the character of his music.
Black Messiah is both ancient and fresh — a surging mass of old blues and new soul built from classic thought and rebel spirit, unending angst and beautiful struggle
The genius of this record is that D’Angelo has managed to apply the sonic intricacy of Voodoo to his thematic approach.
Black Messiah ... has an old-school essence and is proud of it. D’Angelo and his fellow musicians, credited as the Vanguard, spent hours and hours in the studio jamming and shaping tracks, which is pretty much how Voodoo was constructed.
These carefree moments punctuate D’Angelo’s seemingly effortless virtuosity, helping to make ‘Black Messiah’, after all these years, a real showcase of his incredible talent.
Black Messiah shows how deep easy can go. D'Angelo and his band have built an avant-soul dream palace to get lost in, for 56 minutes of heaven.
Black Messiah is emphatic; it’s pertinently weird and beautiful and possessed; its rage is masterfully concentrated, its critique is devastatingly pointed.
The good – no, the astonishing - news is that this constantly engrossing record repays a decade and a half's faith and patience.
Black Messiah is ambitious and adventurous, and in that way it delivers wholly on the promise of D’Angelo as an artist. In another way it’s new and different for him, the sound is heavier and grittier in places, and more simple and sweeter in others.
Vocally, Black Messiah is sparse, but sonically, it is accomplished and fulfilled. Every sound, every instrument, every lyric and harmony is in the place it needs to be.
It’s a record that is aware of its own merits, and is fully confident that it will be loved, year-end lists be damned.
Black Messiah is a dynamite addition to the legacy of one of our greatest artists and the answer to a lot of people’s prayers.
The singer’s reappearance in the post-Ferguson climate feels like nothing less than a superhero donning his cape. Black Messiah is an exquisite realisation of what D’Angelo does best.
If Black Messiah doesn’t offer any answers, it at least maps out some of the emotional territory behind the battle.
After 15 years of studio album silence, D'Angelo returns with a fantastic comeback record.
D’Angleo has explained that calling his album Black Messiah isn’t about glorifying himself, but about the need for everyone to lead. As suits the religious roots of an artist who withdrew from the world, it’s about the insurrection and the resurrection inside each of us.
While it isn’t without its flaws, it captures the zeitgeist in a way that few other albums have managed this year, and has both revelers and detractors speaking passionately.
The wait between Brown Sugar and Voodoo was already long in itself. A 5 year span of no new music is typically considered to be a significant amount of time between releases. However, this is hardly anything compared to the 14 year wait fans had to go through before his eventual 3rd album. Which, considering his personal life post-Voodoo, it’s not difficult to see why. During those 14 years, D'Angelo struggled with alcoholism, cocaine addiction, deaths of family and friends, depression, ... read more
When an artist this talented takes an unexpected hiatus fans can only ponder, fantasizing about the next effort. D'Angelo's glory is in full effect on 'Black Messiah' as he lays everything on the table, rediscovering his roots in the process and paying homage to legends who paved the way before him whilst encouraging those who'll follow in his footsteps. D'Angelo's always been meticulous about the way he composes his music, but this album has an air of freedom about it, the silky smooth vocals ... read more
14 years after D’Angelo created his turn-of-the-century masterpiece Voodoo, he returns with a more funk-influenced record called Black Messiah. And how well does it stand up against his first two? Well, it’s a lot weaker, but it’s still pretty great. While the first two albums felt like just a collection of neo-soul hits about making love and stuff like that, this album feels much more focused and forward. It feels like it has a message, and while the first two gave some of ... read more
It's a pretty sudden genre shift from neo-soul to rock which has me missing the sound of Voodoo and Brown Sugar. Black Messiah tries to emulate the feel of its predecessors but comes up short due to the lack of rich instrumentals. Thankfully, Betray My Heart showcases what I love about D'Angelo.
1 | Ain't That Easy 4:49 | 94 |
2 | 1000 Deaths 5:49 | 90 |
3 | The Charade 3:20 | 94 |
4 | Sugah Daddy 5:02 | 93 |
5 | Really Love 5:44 | 96 |
6 | Back To the Future (Part I) 5:22 | 91 |
7 | Till It's Done (Tutu) 3:51 | 91 |
8 | Prayer 4:32 | 90 |
9 | Betray My Heart 5:55 | 93 |
10 | The Door 3:08 | 90 |
11 | Back To the Future (Part II) 2:24 | 87 |
12 | Another Life 5:58 | 95 |
#1 | / | Pazz & Jop |
#2 | / | Esquire (US) |
#2 | / | Pretty Much Amazing |
#3 | / | Treble |
#4 | / | Rolling Stone |
#5 | / | Complex |
#7 | / | Consequence of Sound |
#7 | / | Grantland (Steven Hyden) |
#7 | / | Pitchfork |
#8 | / | Billboard |