
Raggett described "Wait for the Blackout" as a "dramatic psych/punk surge" with "overtly-serious goth affectations", and qualified "Drinking About My Baby" as "goofy but still enjoyable".

AllMusic critic Ned Raggett noted that "some of the numbers show the band following their original punk vein, but by this point the four.were leaving straight, three-chord thrash to the cul-de-sac revivalists", and that it was "a chance for the band to try everything from straightforward rock to gentler atmospherics". The Black Album represented a change in the career of the group and an expansion of their sound. Phibes (1971), opening with the lyrics ".the organ plays to midnight on Maldine Square tonight". The song "13th Floor Vendetta" paid tribute to the film The Abominable Dr. It was released on 3 November 1980 by Chiswick as a double album, with "Curtain Call" filling the whole of side 3, and a selection of live tracks recorded at Shepperton Studios at a special concert for Damned fan club members on side 4.


The Black Album is the fourth studio album by English punk rock band the Damned, and the first to feature Paul Gray on bass guitar.
