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Rage My Bitch: Now Here Nowhere

You may have encountered the cumbersomely named Rage My Bitch and heard of them being spoken of as a Melodic Death Metal outfit; something which I personally feel over emphasises the aggression this six-piece possess. Don't get me wrong here, this Finnish (where else?) outfit certainly aren't afraid to grind out a collection of decapitating riffs, while between them, vocalists Andy Peltola and Toni Kukkola certainly know how to combine a convincing mix of growls, groans and excellent clean vocals. However I'd suggest that melody is far too high on the RMB agenda to fall into the Death category. Some of the vocals here are positively bluesy in an almost aggressive ZZ Top kinda way and the introduction of, in places, cello, piano and Hammond undoubtedly offers up other, welcome focal points. "As We Align" with its clean guitars, gritty howl and Hammond organ hits like a slow moving Clutch, although the gutturals do feel more than a little contrived in this setting, minimising an otherwise impactful track. Meaning that it is the harder hitting fare such as "Day One" and its pounding beat and staccato guitars where Rage My Bitch really shine. Here the vocal trade-off hits home, the ever altering clean-aggressive smack making a real difference to tracks which could have been seen as reasonably formulaic.

The title song (with added punctuation), "Now, Here, Nowhere", heads further into the Gothenburg scene for inspiration, even if it is a little less refined, while "Road To Redeem" again brings a faint whiff of meaty blues to the far more full on framework Rage My Bitch specialise in. Both guitarists, Matti Lamsa and Sami Niiranen, handle the altering approaches with skill and deft touch, while the rhythm section of bassist Joni Kyynarainen and drummer Eetu Pesu bring a real sense of assuredness, keeping things simple in the main, yet embellishing expertly where required.

Now Here Nowhere does have some rough edges and there's an element, in hope of standing out from the crowd, of trying to add a little too much in places. However, even though it doesn't always quite come off as hoped, it is an attitude and approach to be commended and one which may, in the long term, pay off big time for Rage My Bitch. As it is however this album is still a strong step from a band who give the impression of knowing exactly where they're headed, even if they haven't quite arrived there yet.


Track Listing
1. Relinquish (Overture)
2. Day One
3. Now, Here, Nowhere
4. Road To Redeem
5. As We Align
6. Lash
7. PFSD
8. Pendulum
9. The Dying Kind
10. Remains Red
11. Epilogue

Added: October 12th 2014
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Rage My Bitch on facebook
Hits: 2408
Language: english

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