Hailing from Visalia, California, Riven By Ravens release a song that feeds off the energy of the hot Cali sun. Ten Years Ago Today from the group’s upcoming album ‘Venerate’ is a mighty hard rock track with blistering guitars. It rips the power from early 2000’s post-grunge and metal tracks and packs it all in to a grandiose seven minutes.
Ten Years Ago Today is a triumph of vocal abilities with duo Brian Havrilla and Paul Wilson firing out heart-wrenching screams and a variety of larger than life melodic cleans. The deep monotone verse vocals provide an extra essence of darkness around a track that already features down-tuned and distorted guitars. Some of the cleans resemble that of Ville Valo (HIM), especially with how the guitars travel with the vocals. As the song builds up, the vocal become rawer and more of that classic 2000’s metal sound.
Riven By Ravens begin the track with atmospheric and moody acoustic guitars that feel desert rock. Before you know it they explode into raunchy guitar solos following the same beat with wah effects charging the notes. The melodic notes and crunching palm mutes engross you as if you were listening to a electrified and modernised version of Nothing Else Matters (Metallica).
The drumming is a powerful entity in its own right. Whilst the guitars lead the mood changes and layer on tons of effects, the snare hits are recorded with such passion throughout the track. No matter the theme or tempo throughout the seven minutes, the pounding of the snare and toms are fierce and shred through verses. The only time they’re really taken to school is when the chorus is at its most dynamic (5:30) and drowns out the rhythms with distortion.
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