The Pitch Black is the latest release in the Thunder Line of bowling balls from Storm. It uses a new core called Capacitor and a solid urethane cover called Controll. The Capacitor core offers an Rg of 2.57 and a differential of 0.022 in the 15# ball. The Pitch Black is obviously black in color, and has a sanded 1000 grit abralon finish.
The Pitch Black is a little closer to “old school” urethane balls as it has less flare potential than the Natural series of balls. The Conroll cover seems to be more aggressive than the U2S cover that was on the solid Natural. I drilled my Pitch Black with a 4x4x2.5 layout with a small X hole 2” down from my PAP on my VAL. This is a little bit different than the 4.5x5x2.5 layout I used on the Natural that I will be using as the comparison piece.
The weight block in the Pitch Black seems to retain its motion longer through the lane than what the Natural does, even though the layout would suggest it would read earlier. The cover of the Pitch Black reads friction earlier than the cover on the Natural. The Pitch Black has more continuation through the backend of the lane than the Natural. If there is a small trace of carrydown, the Pitch Black will roll through it easier than what the Natural does. Once the oil pattern gets long, or shows any real amount of carrydown, then it is time to go to a ball with a reactive resin cover. One other note that needs shared, is that the Pitch Black allows me to chase breakdown in a little better than what the Natural did. I can get the 7 pin to still snap out, with moderate moves right, as the outside oil dries up.
The bottom line is, the Pitch Black is the ball to use for slow speed players who want to play closer to the dry part of the lane. The Pitch Black will also help high rev players control the back end of the lane of those short tournament patterns that are becoming all too familiar these days. Low rev, speed dominate bowlers would need a lot of dry boards for this ball to be real useable in most cases.