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Raven Black NightChoose The Dark Independent 'Choose The Dark' is the long-awaited debut of local metal band Raven Black Night, a group whose distinctive sound would best be summed up as doom with death metal influences. Given the frequency with which this band plays, much of the material here should already be familiar to many local metalheads; however, I found that the songs on this CD did sound a little different from their live versions, which took a few listens to get used to. At nearly an hour long this album contains many epic tracks; the longest, Blood On My Wings, being over eleven minutes in duration. The songs tend to be quite complex, Blood... being a good example. This slow, melancholic piece has a protracted, rather cosmic-sounding intro (as well as a similar outro), various long instrumental stretches and a couple of very subdued sections, each followed by a deathly-sounding one. Much of the album's deathly feel is imparted by the growling vocals of bassist The Black Knight (who provides all the vocals for the track Gothic Black), who shares vocals duties with lead guitarist The White Knight. The White Knight's vocals are clean by comparison, and at many points throughout the album, he demonstrates an impressive ability to hit some real high notes. Other tracks of note on this work include the fairly slow and laidback My Love Is Holy; the aforementioned Gothic Black, a more briskly-paced piece carried by one, wickedly infectious riff for a significant portion of its length; and the final track, Ancient Mist, which closes with a nice section of "drum and bass" (literally). Filling things out are a couple of short instrumental tracks: a bass solo called Swamped and a power metal guitar solo entitled, logically enough, Guitar Solo (which more or less merges with the intro to the following track, Princess Morticia). Given how long this album took to come out, it's good to see that the wait has been worth it; there really isn't a weak track here. Get yourself a copy if you haven't already, and also avail yourself of the next chance you get to see the band live.  |
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