Riverflame is a new medieval melodic black metal band featuring members of Hail Spirit Noir, Ponte del Diavolo, and Owls, and it touts the likes of Stormkeep and Summoning as influences.
Now, I love me some medieval black metal, as evidenced by my recent Gladium Regis review and my love of bands like Véhémence, Darkenhold, Obsequiae, Sühnopfer, Abduction, Hanternoz, and Passéisme. And certainly, Riverflame’s debut will appeal to fans of all those bands, especially Summoning, but there is just ‘something’ missing here.
And while this isn’t full-on Summoning worship, like, for example, the recent Forlorn Citadel, as it has much more symphonic black metal injections and structures amid the atmosphere, instrumental marches, spoken words, and Summoning-ish cadences, it will certainly remind folks of the Austrian duo.
The heraldic, triumphant instrumentation is here in full force, with lots of keyboards and chamber music-style harpsichord action amid the 4 lengthy songs and one interlude (“Lunar Crusades”), which also have lots of build-up and purely atmospheric sections.
But that missing element is that the riffs just don’t quite fully imbue that epic, shimmering armor and billowing banners atmosphere I crave with this style. Don’t get me wrong, there are bits here and there like parts of the opener “Riverflame” or “Through Mistlands and Unearthly Worlds”, and the album as a whole is certainly enjoyable – but the Gladium Regis album is far superior and memorable.
Outside of the many atmospheric bridges and builds, the riffs come across as more standard melodic black metal, Dissection-ish riffs, which is absolutely fine. But I want my fantasy/medieval black metal to take me back in time or to another age. And while other elements do, the riffs do not, for example, “Where Dragons Once Ruled” and the 10-minute closer “Before the Eternal Night”, which at times could be a power metal song with harsh vocals.
Don’t get me wrong, Lunar Crusades is a solid, maybe even fine album, but I just expected a little more as it left me wanting.
