Black River – Black ‘N’ Roll
Black River – Black ‘N’ Roll CD (Armoury)
Black River hail from Poland and feature a rhythm section comprised of members of death metal band Behemoth and arguably the most successful black metal band, Dimmu Borgir. However, Black River don’t sound anything like you would expect a band with members from these extreme examples of metal to sound. Black ‘N’ Roll transports you to early 90’s Sunset Boulevard with a beer in your hand rather than the forests of Poland or the frozen fjords of Norway with a winter coat and survival gear. It’s all fists in the air and head banging stadium sized rock rather than symphonic black metal or complex technical chops. The songs are radio-friendly hard rockers with big choruses and guitar solos, sounding pretty similar to Load era Metallica. The lyrics are pretty standard rock star stuff, but some of them are subversive enough to keep Black River off the radio during drive-time in any country, with references to banging whores and deflowering virgins. As far as hard rock goes, Black River aren’t a bad band but they aren’t playing anything that hasn’t been done many times before over the years by bands like Velvet Revolver, Bon Jovi or Guns N’ Roses. If you’re into hard rock and metal and want more of the same stuff you’ve heard before, definitely check out Black River. If not, just stick with the CD’s gathering dust on your shelf and give them a spin to remind yourself who was around producing music like this decades ago. Gareth Moule
