CD Title: Brother Go On
Year: 2008
Website: blackwaterrising.net
MySpace: myspace.com/blackwaterrising
Label: None
Featured on: Loucifer Speaks Exclusive
Rating: 9.5 / 10
More Links: Black Water Rising - New Video Thread.
I became familiar with Black Water Rising (or BWR to their fans) after being a fan of Rob Traynor's (Vocals, guitars) previous band, Dust To Dust... Does anyone else remember them? They were bloody good...
Black Water Rising play, what I would describe as, Alternative Southern Rock. I've chosen to stick that "Alternative" at the beginning because Black Water Rising seem to think outside of the box and, due to this, stand out readily from the crowd.
The EP opens with it's namesake "Brother Go On". This was the first song I heard from the band and it was also the song that led me to decide - "Hey, this band is as good, if not better than Dust To Dust" and add them to my Friends List on MySpace. The song has a big chorus and a really cool, solid sound.
"Living Proof" is probably my favourite from the EP. It's just so damn catchy. Even though I'm not 100% on all of the lyrics yet, I still find myself singing it in my head (or sometimes even out loud!). The rhythm and melody is absolutely fantastic and the lyrics have an almost defiant, gang mentality to them (I'm thinking of a nice gang... not a naughty one!). I'd imagine that this would be a fantastic song in a live situation.
"Hate Machine" is a bit of a weird one - but, as you can guess, it's weird in a good way... rather like me! It opens with a big chunky riff, reminiscent of Black Sabbath and then changes into a grungey song - like something Soundgarden may have produced during their hey day.
"Something's Wrong" closes the EP. This is a song that will not be featured on Black Water Rising's forthcoming album (I don't know when this will be released, but I'll definitely have to check) and so is a bit of a treat for anyone luckily enough to get their hands on the EP. Again, we're given another big chorus, catchy lyrics and great musicianship. To be honest, I expected nothing less.