River Black – River Black – Album Review

Source // River Black

Don’t we all wish we could mix our favourite metal bands together and create a star studded supergroup? Suffice to say, we know this is sadly not a reality. But, that’s okay because it turns out River Black have done it for us!

Featuring three quarters of grindcore band Burnt by the Sun – John Adubato, Mike Olender and heavy metal workhorse Dave Witte, whose extensive list of bands also includes the likes of Municipal Waste, Birds Of Prey and Deny The Cross – the quartet is rounded out by Revocation bassist, Brett Bamberger.

A superstar heavy metal line-up if there’s ever been one!

With so many influences, the end result is bound to be something at least a little unique and the exact genre classification of River Black’s debut album is a little harder to determine than most. That being said, it’s safe to say River Black lies somewhere in the goldilocks zone between hardcore and grindcore. Their style is fast and aggressive and sounds much like grindcore. However, River Black lacks the riff-salad and completely unintelligible lyrical style often associated with the genre.

Song after song blasts the listener away, with the only brief reprieve being the 46 second long violin track, “River Black”. But hey! We aren’t complaining! After all, we see little use for an album of this ilk that aims for tame. While River Black is no instant classic, it’s certainly one worth listening to if you’ve a spare 35 minutes to kill! 6/10