The River, often referred to as the heaviest band in the UK and while that is a pretty inaccurate statement (most likely just a gimmick), it is however true that this is pretty heavy stuff. They combine the hard-hitting and headsmashingly heavy guitars with soothing and elegantly performed female vox by Vicky. Unfortunaly she has already left the band in the mean time and therefore these guys are still looking for a good replacement. Wether they will again opt for a female approach, I don't know, but it will work just as good (perhaps even better) with a good male voice. Swedish Griftegard being the proof of that. Serpentcult is another group who chose to combine skullcrushingly heavy music with female vox, but they incorporate a more groovy approach, whereas The River is simply put bleak and gloomy. The guitars having this sort of humming sound to it, still retaining some of the droney aspects, that were much more prominently present on Oneiric Dirges In Mono. At it's core this is just a continuation of what gods as Saint Vitus, Pentagram, Black Sabbath started. Some small criticsm is appropriate; while the female vocals are an interesting approach for this type of music, they aren't really that strongly executed and here there is definitely still room for improvement. It has however not really deducted anything from the overall experience, it's just too solid for that. Lyrically The River are a fairly one-trick pony and deal with the normal subjects such as loneliness, depression, etc. but they are basically pretty simple and straightforward. Others might just look at it as honesty and praise this rather straigthforward approach. It's a matter of personal taste. Drums are outstanding. Constantly performing interesting fills, providing for a nice variety. He constantly has to show his creativty in his play, he cannot be lazy and just start blasting away when inspiration has left him. Real solid traditional doom and once again it's coming from the UK!
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