Black 'n' Roll

Poland is throwing its hat on the bed of ‘black-n-roll’ bands with Black River, a band now on its second full-length titled Black ‘n’ Roll that captures the stoner vibe to a proverbial “T”.

Behemoth bassist Tomasz Wroblewski (Orion) joins Dimmu Borgir drummer Darek Brzozowski in assembling a veritable hard rockin’ machine with Black River. The very minute I popped black ‘n’ Roll into the CD player I liked what I was hearing. Without a driving need to drown otherwise good hard rock in boring, predictable devices, tracks like “Breaking the Wall” or the title track offer just the right amount of punches to the abdominal region to make you wonder what just hit you and if the band can keep up the pace throughout.

I am starting to gravitate towards thus style a bit more of late, and Black River makes it an easy transition with its fun, unobtrusive heavy metal that is a lot of fun to listen to. Without taking itself too seriously, the band just seems to adopt the ever-misplaced ‘plug-and-play’ mentality that needs a serious overhaul in the modern day. There is no blinding speed, intricate Satriani-esque riffs or Nevermore-like introspection in the lyrics; it’s just a blatant attempt at entertaining you with some old-fashioned metal that grooves like a hundred loyal Deadheads sans the disturbingly-boring background tunes. While ‘stoner metal’ can be attached to the band with a degree of honesty, I’m not sure the Down/St. Vitus feel is all-consuming here. I really enjoy a track like “Loaded Weapon” that just screams “bob-thy-head-oh-wayward-disciple”; if any track could claim such a chemically-enhanced distinction it would be this.

With some seemingly flawless music being offered on Black ‘n’ Roll it’s hard to imagine these guys going back to Behemoth and Dimmu Borgir, but, alas, the flagship bands call. Since this is the second offering from Black River I think it’s safe to assume they plan on keeping the band going for a while, which is a good choice. For the fun of it, much like the days past, hard rock and heavy metal meet at the fork in the road and saunter together for a bit to an elevated plateau. While you aren’t likely to hear Black River on your local radio station in place of the insipid, one-and-same tone of Nickelback or the MTV backside-kissing Disturbed, you can find comfort in the two CD’s the band offers for the commercially-challenged elite among us.

(Originally written for www.MetalPsalter.com)