Raunchy - Wasteland Discotheque |
Published June 23 2008
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This Blackout Is Your Apocalypse |
| Genre | Melodic Death Metal |
Kasper Thomsen
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Vocals
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| Tracks | 12 |
Jesper Tilsted
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Guitar
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| Runningtime | 54 Min. |
Lars Christensen
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Guitar
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| Label | Lifeforce Records |
Jesper Kvist
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Bass
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| Release | 30 June 2008 |
Morten Tof Hansen
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Drums
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| Country | Denmark |
Jeppe Christensen
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Keyboard
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| Similar artists | Mnemic, Mercenary, In Flames, Soilwork | ||
The Danes from Raunchy return with their fourth album, and this time they manage to capture my attention for the first time. I don't know if there is such thing as a danish sound, but there appears to be a common thread in the sound that runs through several danish bands, and at least in my ears it is obvious that Raunchy hails from the northern parts of Europe.
Futuristic Hybrid Metal, that is how Raunchy is being marketed, and even if I don't totally agree, I can surely hear where that is coming from. Take thrash metal, melodic death metal and hardcore, combine that with a sound that has an edge to it and a healthy sense for the melodic and you have a rough idea of what Raunchy is about. Also add electronic elements and lively melodic parts that could be transcribed to more pop-oriented music if you were to lose the metal. At first it could be easy to dismiss Raunchy as just another band that screams out the verses and only to melodically sing the refrain, but there is more to it than that, this is aggression with an intelligent twist.
The band has gained some good skills in what they are doing. The drumming comes out very dynamic and the clean vocals have just the right melodic sense and a good amount of empathy within the refrains. Although, the scream slash growls tend to come out a bit too static for my ears. I particularly like the nice melodic guitars that, with the harmonies as well as the leads, have at times a similarity with the wonderful flowing lines that come out of the guitars from In Flames. The track Heavy Burden shows the best example of that and partly it feels like that song could be picked out of the Clayman album from In Flames. The hard core traces are evident in their sound, but luckily it is not more than what I can cope with, and that is not much. Better for me then that Raunchy gather most of their energy from the melodic death metal. Although, Straight To Hell, which is a nice fast and aggressive song, has hardcore tendencies within the vocals that manage to bring this song down.
Even though most songs have refrains that are delivered with a catchy hook it is the more balanced songs that Raunchy provide that are those that serves in my favour, like Warriors for instance, songs that appear to be more thought through and solid in general. Raunchy also do a cover version of the old eighties monster hit Somebody's Watching Me by Rockwell. I am sure you all have heard it even though you perhaps don't remember it. I am no fan of the original but Raunchy do a decent version of it, while staying rather true to the original they also put their own brand on it just as they have done with the entire album.
Perhaps Wasteland Discotheque is not an album that leaves
you with any emotional impressions when you are done listening to it,
but while listening it surely does the job. And even if you sometimes
feel like it sounds like everything else among the bands in this area
of metal, they do manage to create something that puts their own touch
to it all.
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Performance
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Originality
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Production
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Vocals
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Songwriting
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7 |
4 |
8 |
6 |
7 |
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Summary
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7 chalices of 10 - Thomas |
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