The Cali progressive hard rock titans who forged Riven By Ravens from the ashes of their previous project, Ghost Army, exhibited their broad range of influence in their monolithically metal-tinged single, Trainwreck. It will leave you insatiable for the unveiling of the forthcoming 14-track LP, Venerate, which is set to drop in January 2024.
With tension and aggression-fraught breakdowns which echo Machine Head’s Bloodstone & Diamonds LP between the hints of Against Me and cultivated melodic prog rock reverberations that will rhythmically entice fans of Porcupine Tree and Tool alike, Riven By Ravens did more than amalgamate their eclectic array of influences. They found unchartered intersections between them and stamped down their sonic signature to mark their territory.
If you can tear yourself away from the magnetism within the complex time signatures, you can lock into the refraining mantras, which act as a carrion call to tenacity while exhibiting the breakthrough band’s determination to better the world, one track at a time.
After the band was formed in 2022 by Brian Havrilla and Paul Wilson, they’ve been making strides in the prog-rock dominion, it is only a matter of time before they hold the keys to it entirely.
Stream Trainwreck, which crashed onto the airwaves in 2023 via YouTube.
Review by Amelia Vandergast