Rasmus, The: Hide From The Sun

The Rasmus are another one of those "overnight sensations" from Helsinki, Finland who are not overnight at all and instead have been releasing albums since 1996. Yes, it seems like Finland is giving the world another band that is set to become the "next big thing" and watching the countries output over the last few years with Children Of Bodom, Nightwish, H.I.M and The 69 Eyes this could be a very good thing. "Hide From The Sun" bears some uncanny resemblance to the sound of Gothic Melodic Rockers H.I.M., yet unlike their Finnish Brothers in music, The Rasmus are not as Dark and Melancholy with their songs. There is a slightly similar groove to be found on tracks like "Keep Your Heart Broken" and "No Fear" but beyond that it is a totally different band. There is little emphasis on Death and lost love like H.I.M. is delivering on a regular basis. The resulting hit potential in tracks like "Night After Night" and "Sail Away" are quite high (I come to this conclusion based on my humming the chorus parts after only a couple of listens). The album is their sixth but is only the second to reach the US shores (the first domestic would be "Dead Letters" on Interscope Records). The amount of sleek tracks that it has leaves little doubt that they will be one of the most successful bands of this type of genre to hit the music scene of today. It's a lot better than some of the other music the young listener is focused on so let's hope for that niche to make room for them. The band does not truly bear the Gothic label, but does have a twist of it tossed in for taste with "Lucifer's Angel" and "Don't Let Go" and if that demographic catches on to the group is could cause them to give Ville a run for his money. Lead singer Lauri Ylonen has a wonderful texture and passion to his voice and by the look of his photos, he will soon adorn the lockers of students in schools across the nation. The other members of the group are Pauli Rantasalmi (guitar), Eero Heinonen (bass) and Aki Hakala (drums) and the quartet rocks. Fans of the Finnish music scene will also enjoy the visit from Apocalyptica that the album offers on "Dead Promises" (the two met before on the song "Bittersweet", where they also were joined by Ville Vallo). This is a solid production from top to bottom and totally catchy and relevant to an ever-growing brand of music. If you like H.I.M. this is for you and if tasty Melodic Hard Rock is your cup of tea you will find little disappointment on "Hide From The Sun". The US release of this album comes with seven bonus tracks of which three are alternate versions of what you find on the recording. The pleasant surprise was that none of the bonuses are sub par tracks, each one rocks like the rest of the album making this a bargain. Lyrics and photos are included in the booklet so you can sing along as well.

Track Listing
1. Shot
2. Night After Night (Out Of The Shadows)
3. No Fear
4. Lucifer's Angel
5. Last Generation
6. Dead Promises
7. Immortal
8. Sail Away
9. Keep Your Heart Broken
10. Heart Of Misery
11. Don't Let Go
12. Dancer In The Dark
13. Open My Eyes
14. Trigger
15. No Fear (Chris Vrenna Remix)
16. Sail Away (Benztown Mixdown)
17. Lucifer's Angel (Acoustic)

Added: February 28th 2007
Reviewer: Ken Pierce
Score:
Related Link: The Rasmus Website
Hits: 2840
Language: english

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