Veteran Denmark band Raunchy is back with their 5th album and continue to pound out very listenable and enjoyable metal/pop that mixes elements of these worlds with a metalcore foundation. In other words, this band would have to be classified somewhere in the nu-metal realm but they retain a much more melodic and mainstream approach to the music. Your best bet is to just sit back and enjoy one very cool disc no matter what you might call it. These guys have a unique style and one that is catchy and grows on you every time the record hits the player. This disc might be a tinge heavier than their last couple albums overall but they still keep things on balance and their fans are going to love this one.
Lead singer Kasper Thomson has the right temperament for this kind of music. He has a varied style that ranges from a strong clean voice to a more raunchy (pun intended) gruff/harsh type of delivery that brings to mind Threat Signal off the top of my head. In fact, fans of that band will love what these guys do.
The opening song "Dim the Lights and Run" highlight the lighter side of the band with the emphasize on clean vocals and a very melodic style where the keyboards give it an airy/popish feel with the guitars giving it a bit of an edge. This is kind of like the calm before the storm as they start to crank it up with the next song "Rumor of Worship" where you get the mixture of clean and harsh vocals by Kasper against the competing keyboards and guitars. Most of this disc will give you that blend which gives them their unique sound. Most bands use the keyboards to add atmosphere or a gothic quality. Raunchy takes it in a different direction and the synthesizers are the light to the guitars heavy.
Most of the disc follows this formula but this band has the mixture down pat! It is not just variations on a theme as they add and subtract from each element to make some very tasty tidbits throughout the album. They can lean the heavier way like on songs "Nght Prty", "Blueprints for Lost Sounds" or my favorite, the heavy as hell "Ire Vampire". On the last song, even when Thomson uses clean vocals he is doing so against a wall of guitars. It is great stuff and they do it so well.
On the lighter side you have the strange "The Great Depression" which is really on the other end of the spectrum. The song sounds almost like one of the boy bands of the past few years and the one song that I have to wonder why it is on the disc.
The other music all falls somewhere in between and is a dose of some very fine music. It might not be earth shattering but still is an impressive blend that I have been enjoying immensely. If you like this kind of music, there is few who do it this well and with such a wide swing of the pendulum both ways. Sometimes it is just a whole lot of fun to get a little raunchy!
Track listing:
1. Dim the Lights and Run
2. Rumors of Worship
3. Nght Prty
4. Street Emperor
5. Blueprint for Lost Sounds
6. Shake Your Grave
7. Tiger Crown Big Truth
8. The Great Depression
9. The Yeah Thing
10. Ire Vampire
11. Gunslingers and Tombstones
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