Convoy

River of Sorrow

Brian Corbin – Vocals, Guitar

Mike Getz– Drums

Dan Thompson – Bass, Vocals

Don Viane - Guitar

            Hailing from the Windy City, Convoy has been described as a “swamp rock” band. Forming in 2009, the band plays mostly southern metal/rock, but also swings into other genres as well. The band members had been playing for years before getting together. They have combined many expects into the raw emotion that seems refreshing, catchy and addictive. Their debut record River of Sorrow contains 12 tunes. Let’s see if those adjectives accurately describe the record. The album gets going with “Believe.” The track has a thick heavy sound with dominate sounding vocals. The entire track demands your attention as they thump the hell out of your ear drums. The vocals have an evil pitch to them has the bass drops a heavy beat down. It begins the album with an intriguing feeling, and has you wanting to hear more. “Flood Of The River” opens up with a great vibe. The guitars rip off a few cords while the drums drop a nice beat. The vocals enter with a slow and deliberate delivering a solid set of lyrics. The slow moving track screams southern rock and you will dive in head first. “Heroin” throws down huge drums, and the bass is laid track. They both work together with some flair ups from the guitars to create a slow grinding metal number. The vocals also creep along letting the music drag them along. There really isn't anything great as far as lyrics goes as this track just gives off a little jam session to me. “Devil’s Bounty” offers up a bit more lyrical than the last, but not much more. They are way in the back ground as the music forces its way back up front. The guitars take over the track with some help from the drums which create a nice little vibe. “Gasoline” has some attitude to it, but you can’t hear the vocals very well, and with not hearing the vocals you can’t hear the lyrics. The music on the other hand is great. The beat that they lay down nearly anyone can get into. I do like the track overall, but with some enhanced vocals it may make it ever better. “I Want Some” has that southern vibe as it cruises along. The vocals are much clearer in this offering and will have you sway back and forth. There are many opportunities for a crowd to get involved in this one. This is something for everyone. “This I Know” is a heavy hitter with a thick raspy sound from both the drums and guitars while the vocals growl out the lyrics. The music sounds great, but it really lacks in lyrics department. They repeat a good bit and after a few listens it gets boring. “Let’s Get High” is a simple little groove that has some better lyrics. You can just envision the ladies getting into this number with their drinks held high in the air. The music compliments the vocals very well, and it might be one of the better whole tracks from the album thus far. “Knocked Down” gets to the metal aspect of the band. The verses not so much, but the chorus you can see a mosh pit forming. The guitars are great as they rip op from the intro through to the end. The drums also add some flavor to the offering. “Sins of the Wicked” hammers out a great musical performance. The heavy drums and snarling guitars blended with decent vocals that deliver solid lyrics. This might be the ticket for this release. It has a metal feel to it, but not that thrash fast pace metal. It’s slow and deliberate as it gets its point across. This number shows that not everything needs to be fast paced for fans to like it. “Burn” is a quick hitter that provides some speed to the album. It races unlike most of the others from the album. The vocals are awesome while the guitars roll. The guitar solo that they insert in the song adds flavor that the release desperately needed. The album wraps up with “River of Sorrow” it’s a darker number that just draws in you in close. The music is intriguing as the vocals do a slow crawling towards you. Everything in this tune screams “horror movie.” Its creepiness peaks your interest and will captivate you into staying around. I love the music during this number and I can see this as being either an opener to a set or coming back out after a break. Overall it’s just an okay album. I can hear the potential, but at this point that’s all it is. They need to step up their game and record a bit better. I can feel that the tracks would be different live, but they still need to sound good on the album as well. A lot of these tracks don't sound very good on a disc. The vocals seem like they were badly recorded. They need to bring them up to the front some. They also need to work on the lyrics some as they did tend to repeat. Musically, I really did like the album. It did need to pick up the pace some and flirt with some more solos. They seem to come together in that aspect of the album. I would like to see how they grow and it’s rumored, since this album was release in 2010; that they are working on some new stuff.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Tracks to Watch:

Sins of the Wicked, Burn, River of Sorrow

Track List:

1. Believe
2. Flood Of The River
3. Heroin
4. Devil’s Bounty
5. Gasoline
6. I Want Some
7. This I Know
8. Let’s Get High
9. Knocked Down
10. Sins of the Wicked
11. Burn
12. River of Sorrow

Website (s):  http://www.facebook.com/convoy