"Red Cold River" was first announced as the lead single for the band's sixth studio album, Ember, in December 2017.[4] A short teaser clip of the song was released on January 1, 2018,[5][6] while the full song was later officially released on January 5, 2018.[7][8] The song debuted number 38 on the BillboardMainstream Rock Songs chart in its first week at radio, making it the biggest gainer on the chart of the week.[9] A music video was released on January 18, 2018, featuring alternating footage of the band performing, and scenes of an anguished father who finds his missing daughter dead near a creek.[10] The man meets a Native American woman who helps him see a vision of the man who killed his daughter and was a part of the search party. The father transforms into a monster, hunts down the killer, and beats him almost to death, but stops upon seeing the angel of his deceased daughter.[10]
Themes and composition
The song features a "dark and moody" guitar riff[11] and quiet-loud dynamics, with sections of "lunging, low-slung rhythms juxtaposed by soaring atmospheric moments".[12] The band's lead vocalist Benjamin Burnley employs screamed vocals in the pre-chorus, followed by clean, melodic vocals in the chorus, singing the dark lines "I can't feel anything at all / this life has left me cold and damned".[11][12] The song's "heavy yet melodic" sound was compared to prior Breaking Benjamin songs "I Will Not Bow" and "The Diary of Jane".[13]
Reception
Initial critical reception of the song was mixed. Metal Injection praised the song for being "catchy" and having a "memorable enough hook" that takes effect after hearing the song three times.[14]MetalSucks was less enthusiastic, criticizing that it sounded too much like early 2000s rock music from the band and similar artists such as Seether and Theory of a Deadman.[15]
In its first week of release, the song sold 22,000 copies in the US.[16]
