River Black is a new band that introduce themselves to us with their self-titled debut album. They are basically the continuation of Burnt By The Sun, who were disbanded in 2011, as their members are Mike Olender (vocals), John Adubato (guitar) and Dave Witte (drums, also in Municipal Waste) all of them founding members of their previous band with the addition of Brett Bamberger (bass, Revocation).
Their music somehow starts from where BBTS left us, as in its basic structure is not so different from what we used to know. After all those years thought, it couldn’t be exactly the same, as it is darker and the grindcore outbursts have been replaced by a death metal vibe. The songs last a few minutes, they are in-your-face and don’t get boring at all. As a proper hardcore album should be. Also, they don’t have problem to experiment more, like in “Haunt” with clean vocals, in “South By South” with violin and in “Shipwreck” with a thrash rhythm. Also, very nice job in the sound of the album by the producer Eric Rachel (God Forbid, The Black Dahlia Murder, Symphony X). The mastering has the signature of Alan Douched, a man whose work is so big that if I start writing about the bands that asked for his help, you would be reading this review for the next half hour.
The album flows easily and before you know it, you find yourself putting it again from the beginning. The first effort of River Black is successful and all we have to do is wait to see what they will give us next.
