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Black Water Rising is the brainchild of singer Rob Traynor, whom some may know from his previous band Dust To Dust, a Southern metal influenced nu-metal band. He's back with his new project which is a straight up American hard rock band. This album was originally self-released in the US back in 2009 but Metalville have just released it in Europe.
Lets face it, you've heard one of these bands you've heard 'em all and yet this genre remains insanely popular! I've never been able to understand it personally. To me these bands are okay on the odd occasion but as stated the bands are interchangeable with rarely a unique element to make them stand out from the crowd.
From the outset it is clear the direction that Black Water Rising is heading. This is music designed to be popular, to cover as many bases as possible in the spectrum of rock music taste. Many of the songs, the popular Brother Go On amongst them, are almost carbon copies of Black Label Society and many other riff-driven US hard rock bands. Even the lyrics are taken from the Southern metal handbook. Traynor has that same style of voice you've heard in everything from Pantera to Black Label Society to Staind to Nickelback. Its typical American hard rock.
Okay, maybe I've been a bit down on this band so far. I'm not a big fan of this style of music at all and get bored easily by it. That being said, Black Water Rising is one of the better bands I've heard. Traynor does utilize some different techniques with his voice in a style very similar to Phil Anselmo and the music is generally on a par with BLS' better rockers. Definitely worth a listen if you're into the genre even if it is essentially just a case of same old, same old.
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