Black Water Rising
Electrified
Pavement Entertainment
2017
Black Water Rising is a Brooklyn based quartet returning with their third album after a few years in the wilderness that seem to have done little to slow down Rob Traynor (vocals & guitar) and his chums, Mike Meselsohn (drums), Oddie Mclaughlin (bass) and Dennis Kimak (guitar). Their style is a groovy rock/metal with lots of swagger, in the vein of BLS, and maybe AIC, but with more “rounded vocals” and fuzzier/sludgier riffs.
“Obey” and “The Answer” make a strong 1-2 start, especially the latter, with its big harmonies and better chorus. The album hardly even changes the style or MO, but it does attempt to mix up things a bit with varying tempi. “Payback” is slightly reminiscent to Godsmack, while “Millennial Zombies” is more rock‘n’rollish, even bringing to mind Rob Zombie by association, but on his “earlier” attempts as White Zombie. “Reality Check” is more funky and playful, in an almost FNM way, while “Don’t Wait Up” tries to be an anthemic “ballad” of sorts, without totally missing the mark, but landing wide away of the center too at the same time. “Higher” is grungy and charged, but not too “slouchy” or slow, thus a quite enjoyable affair, all in all. The title track throws the gauntlet down even harder, with a massive riff but ends up also being massively melodic at the same time. “Foolish Pride” returns things to a grungier almost Pearl Jammy mode, but with better vocals than V’s, while “Buried in Black” feels as if Gen X’s Billy Idol sort of hijacked one of their songs in a way. On closer, “World of Frustration” they try to go all artsy and acoustic, managing to pull it off, but sounding also rather predictable in the process.
Solid enough band and album that avoids the pitfall of most “alt” and similar albums and that’s boring your tits to the point where you’d rather attempt to lactate yourself, even if you’re a dude! Fans of BLS, Godsmack, AIC, and even Monster Magnet, would probably enjoy these Yanks.
“Obey” and “The Answer” make a strong 1-2 start, especially the latter, with its big harmonies and better chorus. The album hardly even changes the style or MO, but it does attempt to mix up things a bit with varying tempi. “Payback” is slightly reminiscent to Godsmack, while “Millennial Zombies” is more rock‘n’rollish, even bringing to mind Rob Zombie by association, but on his “earlier” attempts as White Zombie. “Reality Check” is more funky and playful, in an almost FNM way, while “Don’t Wait Up” tries to be an anthemic “ballad” of sorts, without totally missing the mark, but landing wide away of the center too at the same time. “Higher” is grungy and charged, but not too “slouchy” or slow, thus a quite enjoyable affair, all in all. The title track throws the gauntlet down even harder, with a massive riff but ends up also being massively melodic at the same time. “Foolish Pride” returns things to a grungier almost Pearl Jammy mode, but with better vocals than V’s, while “Buried in Black” feels as if Gen X’s Billy Idol sort of hijacked one of their songs in a way. On closer, “World of Frustration” they try to go all artsy and acoustic, managing to pull it off, but sounding also rather predictable in the process.
Solid enough band and album that avoids the pitfall of most “alt” and similar albums and that’s boring your tits to the point where you’d rather attempt to lactate yourself, even if you’re a dude! Fans of BLS, Godsmack, AIC, and even Monster Magnet, would probably enjoy these Yanks.