Article By: Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker ‡ Edited By: Leanne Ridgeway
River Black is a new project that I have been extremely excited to hear music from since I first learned of its existence.
See, River Black has guitarist John Adubato and drummer David Witte (Municipal Waste, Burnt By The Sun), Revocation bassist Brett Bamberger, and former Burnt By The Sun collaborator Mike Olender (vocals) in its ranks.
The quartet recently recorded its self-titled début album at New Jersey’s Trax East studio with producer Eric Rachel. That eagerly anticipated album will be released via Season Of Mist on July 7th. The details of that album, including artwork and tracklist are below, along with a scathing new track from it, “Low“.
Vocalist Mike Olender comments on behalf of River Black:
“Our first track out, ‘Low’ is an expression of horror at how religion can become twisted and manipulated by charlatans and demagogues. It was inspired by a news report I heard about a journalist, who spent some time with the now-deceased Isis leader ‘Johnny Jihad’.
“It revealed how this man used brutality with the purpose of inspiring others with similarly twisted minds. He used videos of his actions as recruiting tools. I was struck by the thought that there are people out there, who not only wouldn’t be repelled by these horrific videos, but actually excited and inspired by the images of this man gleefully sawing off the heads of the orange-clad victims kneeling before him. Faiths have always had these characters throughout history, but it is surreal to realize we are living in such dark historic times.”
Tracklist:
Jaws
Honor
Low
Shipwreck
River Black
South by South
Boat
Move
#Victim
Haunt
Sink
Everywhere
