The River – Vessels Into White Tides

Band: The River
Title: Vessels Into White Tides
Label: Nine Records
Release date: 11 December 2019
Country: England
Format reviewed: Digital Promo

Here we are and yet again I´m enjoying the gifts that keep on giving. Those gifts of course are the bands and albums that give us the music. And music is life! And we are grateful for that.
I just hope that reading our take on the genre we love helps you discover new sounds. The joy of discovery…

For me, as usual now (by no means an expert we all know that hehe), this is a new band. I mean, for me. The River has some history under their belts, since 1999!!

The album opens with the track Vessels, a slow, atmospheric tune that sets the mood for the entire album. The harsh, dry and heavy sound of the band took me to a place of solitude, where I was condemned to endure myself and the choices I made in life. Of course, this place, this hell of your own making has no exit door. .. But don´t despair, cause although The River´s music is unforgiven, vocals are there to walk with you. Not to be a saviour. But to be a companion in this journey through hell. Like Virgil to Dante, Jenny Newton´s vocal melodies are a resting place and shoulder to cry on as both she and you endure and thrive through melancholic landscapes and ever-flowing dark waters.
As songs pass, or as your journey through hell goes on, melancholy will not leave you throughout the 5 songs (47 min.) of the album. Consider yourself warned.

The River does not bind their sound to the ever present recipe of a monumental riff from where to deliver their music. They do it in a somewhat mellow yet very dark way. There is no rushing into songs or catchy choruses. The heaviness is delivered through a dense atmosphere even in the acoustic and string instrument passages. These moments are beautiful and can evoke memories of past loves, moments that are now lost forever.

Slow, emotional, heavy, melancholic, harsh, gloomy.
Not for everybody, and not the kind of music I usually play and search for. But I enjoyed this journey and i think you will too. 7/10 Perrö