The formation of RIVEN has been a rough road in the making.  After former members Michael “Angel” Woodruff and Jeremy “Twitch” Scheller parted ways with the now defunct Motograter, this was the new project they promised from the very day of the massive public breakup of Motograter.

The new single “Unsound” has very much the same feel that Motograter had just before its breakup, only without the obvious smack around and the “dirty” sound that Motograter started producing.  RIVEN’s music is much cleaner, with better vocals and harmonies, and what I feel is a much better appeal to the current metal market.  With the current massive 6 piece Slipknot style makeup of RIVEN with a possible 7th coming soon, the potential that the first releases (both the public one now out, and the not-so-public releases only available to a select few) are showing is outright amazing.  The appeal that RIVEN has to even non-metal fans to listen to metal music is in one word, superior.

In talking to Michael Woodruff (Lead Vocals) about the release of the first song, he stated “It feels good to finally have something the guys and I are proud of. For so long we were held back from expressing ourselves the way we wanted to. So when that hold was broken the ideas and inspirations kinda just pored out and now you can all see what the end results are.”.

With Motograter gone and the wounds still fresh for fans of them, this new project that Woodruff has embarked on might just be the solution.  In talking to a member of Motograter who asked not to be named; and that was not invited to the RIVEN project; about the possible reformation of Motograter it was stated “Motograter as of now is gone, and while we would like to reassemble and keep it going it just is not looking possible or feasible anytime in the near future”.

Here is the new song and half-video for “Unsound”:

For more information on RIVEN you can find them on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/Rivenband

Frank Arena
Project Backstage