Band : The Rasmus
Album Title : Black Roses
Label : Playground Music
Distribution : Universal
Release date : October 2008.
Review : CD

“Black Roses” is the seventh studio album from the Finnish rock band The Rasmus.
The band was formed in 1994 in Helsinki while the members were still in high school.
After instant success in their homecountry Finland, an international breakthrough was achieved with the hit single “In The Shadows” from the album “Dead Letters” (2003).
The previous album of The Rasmus, “Hide From The Sun”, dates back to 2005 and after the extensive touring in support of that album, the foursome took a long break to avoid a total burn-out. But I guess they were quite satisfied to win several music awards and sell 2,5 million albums worldwide.
And now the vacation is over and The Rasmus are back, with a new logo on the album cover, which looks a lot like the Metallica logo from the “Load” period.
And there’s even more, singer Lauri (now with peroxide blond punk hair cut) and his mates refreshed their creative freedom and return with a slightly different sound than before. The band itself calls their new musical style ‘death pop with a Depeche Mode feeling’.
Personally, I notice a polished poppy sound and mediocre songs, more synthesizer minded, but not impressive at all. I preferred The Rasmus when they were a real rock band instead of this lame death pop band.
“Black Roses” was produced by the legendary producer and songwriter Desmond Child (for instance Kiss, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi) and contains 11 songs with a playing time of 42 minutes.
Highlights are the first single “Livin’ In A World Without You”, “Ten Black Roses”, the second single “Justify”, "You Got It Wrong" and “Live Forever”.
The Rasmus has planned a European tour for early 2009, but apparently without any dates in Belgium or the Netherlands.

65/100

Erik.