Son of Rust- Vicious Cycles

Son of Rust -Vicious Cycles.

Sons of Rust writes catchy songs. There’s a bit of guitar, and a little aggression to go with it. For the most part though, Son of Rust write well-crafted pop songs. There’s a little bit of a new-wave feel, with some industrial flair. All the songs are full of good hooks and distorted synth patches. There's a good mix here, between poppy programming and writing an aggressive song. A lot of catchy melodies, and it’s the melodies that usually carry the song. Probably, Son of Rust has listened to its share of Gary Numan, and that’s not at all a bad thing. “The Highest Cost” has some pretty piano parts, followed by some pretty predicable guitar parts. It’s very catchy, a good song, probably one of the better tracks on the album. “Discordia” is a good example of one of the tracks that really points out a strength of the album: it’s a synthpop song, with guitar, that doesn’t sound like the guitar was dubbed in by a stoned monkey.

On top of that, there’s some really well done vocal harmony. It’s a real tasteful song, it starts with this out-of-tune piano, and ends with synth and a quiet guitar track, it’s really pretty interesting, and worth skipping back and listening through a couple times. “Scream” has a great beginning, and then it gets into another typical song for this band. When the chorus picks up, it’s a pretty great chorus, with enough dynamics to make it interesting. As I’ve already mentioned, and again in “Scream” it’s the vocal harmonies really make the song. “Falling Down” seems like it might be a good dance track for this band. It’s got a low, bassy synth that’s perfect fill to keep people dancing. The last track, “Another Beautiful Tragedy” is a beautiful synthpop song, It’s exactly what it’s supposed to be melodic, haunting, another track you might find yourself singing, hours after you put the CD away.

Son of Rust manages a solid, cohesive album, full of soaring melody, a little guitar, and catchy synth. If synthpop is your thing, this album might be worth checking out. The band shows it can work the formula, and do some interesting things here and there.