Cold Black River
Album Title: Tales Of Death And The Devil
Record Label: Cold Black River
Review by Sal Serio
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Cold Black River - Tales Of Death And The Devil
Today we discuss the 3rd album from Madison’s resident purveyors of doom metal, Cold Black River. In a nutshell, the formula remains the same but the songcraft continues to improve. Generally speaking, “doom” compositions have a tendency to bog down with plodding riffs that take forever to reward with thrills and audience payoff, kind of like a porno that never reaches the climax. Fortunately this CBR release includes all the money shots in the final edit, which is to say thank goodness there truly IS a happy ending here!
A rock trio is like the opposite of a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. It’s only got three components. Four, if you count the vocals. Every one of the ingredients has to be of the highest quality, and all have to pull their own weight. Most importantly, each one must compliment each other and complete the big picture. I feel like CBR understands that, and with each successive visit to the studio they’ve executed a more impressive “painting”.
I’d like to see this progression continue on to the next CBR project. Since the doom genre can be so predictable and formulaic, I think this group can continue to set themselves apart from the pack with this trend toward increased creativity in their song structure, proving there really is room for “artistic vision” within the context of hard rock music.
Recommended tracks: “Keep Rollin’”, “Among The Stars”, “Anywhere Ya Wanna”.
Cold Black River Online
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