| CD REVIEW Raunchy |
 |
|
Band : Raunchy Wow man...with each release this Danish sextet puts out, the band succeeds in encrusting itself into my list of all-time favourite bands even more than they were before! Yo, first a short catch-up on the band history following the info I conveyed in my review (posted 11/08/2008) of their previous album, the controversially titled Wasteland Discotheque (oh well, their album before that was called Death Pop Romance...what's in a name? Hum, actually quite a lot in this case, right?)? For starters, the band was invited on a short German tour in support of Volbeat in late 2008, and in April 2009 they released an Andreas Krohn directed video for Wasteland Discotheque song “Warriors” (check it out on their MySpace page), following that up with their Weekend Warriors Tour of Sweden and Denmark. During July and August the band made acte de presence at the respectably big German festivals With Full Force and Summer Breeze Open Air. They reconvened with Jakob Hansen at the latter's Hansen Studios to record the 12 new songs featured on A Discord Electric in February of this year. Guesting musicians/ singers were Mattias Kolstrup & Ole Björn Sörensen (backing vocals, I guess on the song “Big Truth”), plus Thomas Foldberg (harmonica in the opening sequence of “Blueprints For Lost Sounds”...giving it a wacky Western/ Country flavouring to-die-for!). Well, With now 5 studio albums on their curriculum vitae, the guys have perfected their blending of the more extreme styles in Metal (in this case a Melodic Death Metal) with elements from Hardcore (nice breakdowns and vocal stylings), modern Metalcore (American style, true enough...meaning there's fair portions of clean lead singing and harmony backing) as well as the more “extreme” kinds) and Pop (Yeah, Baby!) into a whole which is simply appallingly attractive and catchy! As it it wasn't enough to get a nicely steady but flexible basis from the rhythm section...on top of which the guitarists bring their fantastically catchy twin lead melodies with the necessary breakdowns and more aggressive down-tuned passages with a nice underlaying complexity...on top of which the prolific keyboardist adds additional layers of intricate by fitting nature...you get the two singers either complementing each other in high-pitched harmonics, or making a counter-balance between clean and rough (as mentioned earlier, somewhat Hardcore-styled). The whole is occasionally só overwhelmingly anthemic one cannot help but being drawn in! In fact, if you wanna give this album all of the attention it warrants, there is one good piece of advice I can give you: when giving the album its first two or three listening sessions, skip the first song each time! Why? Because I want you to get ito the rest of the material first, and then when thàt's sunk in, you're free to listen to that incredibly beautiful album opening track. If you don't get swooped off your feet first with what the rest of the album offers, “Dim The Lights And Run” will get you flat on your back! All those intertwining melodies from both instruments and singers, they're so...overwhelming...fantastic...yeah, those are the words that may express it best, perhaps! In essence, listening to thàt track first risks having you feel let-down somewhat with the 11 other songs, I asure you! For once, the label's description of the band's music as being “...some fresh, unexpected and unique Future-Metal-Pop-Something you can only say WOW to...” fits like a glove! Now...the band's been clever: they've only posted the one song at myspace.com/raunchy, and it's nót that album opener! Nay, to get a whiff of that, me lads, ye'll have to seek for the album's page at one of yer trusted online sales websites (Cut the accent, Tony!), where you're almost certain to find samples of all the other songs as well! In mid November the band sets out on a European tour, starting in the UK. Belgium (place/ venue not confirmed as yet) is for Nov. 21, and after that there's the South of Europe (France, Spain & Italy) with some German gigs on the way back (for more details, check the aforementioned MySpace page). Closing comments? “Album Of the Year 2010” material and for the top of the lists too! As said in the chorus of that song, “...we're sending out signals...there's cause for celebration...this is new music...”...so take the hint and go buy the album, if only to be sure to have the above mentioned epic track “Dim the Lights And Run” in your collection. 98/100 Tony. |