Raunchy- A Discord Electic

Artist: Raunchy

CD Title: A Discord Electric

Label: Lifeforce Records

Reviewer: Michael Fearon

Date: 1-26-11

Website: https://www.lifeforcerecords.com/



Listen to this album.

As a reviewer, my job is to objectively look at music and point out the good and the bad elements without bias, well I can tell you, right from track 1 'Dim the Lights and Run' I knew that was going to be tough with this band.

Raunchy's latest offering is the culmination of 18 years as a band, with an almost completely unchanged lineup, and this professional edge is evident throughout the album.  They are listed as an industrial metal band, but I think that is too narrow a classification.  A listen to track 2 'Rumours of Worship' would lead one to believe this is a nu-metal/hard rock band, with it's enticing lead guitars and use of harsh vocals it is a powerful track, but with little to no element of industrial-ness to it.  Compare that against the very next track 'Nght Prty' and one can see the synth based industrial edge this band provides.
If they had to be compared to other contemporary acts, a fair comparison would be some sort of crossover between The Prodigy and Spineshank; this is industrial, but it will not alienate straight up rock fans.  It is such a seamless blend of industrial and metal that one wonders that the two could have ever been differing genre's.

A personal favourite on this album is track 4 'Street Emperor', with it's fantastic transition between driving verses, and an altogether stadium pleasing, epic chorus, I have to question how I ever listened to anything else.

Furthermore the mastering and production on this album leaves nothing to be desired, all the layers are there to be appreciated, and are clearly defined with no clashing and an overall top notch sound quality, but one would expect little else from Lifeforce Records who have boasted bands such as Trivium on their books.

In the interest of fairness however, I am obliged to point out this albums imperfections, such as what is probably it's weakest track 'Shake your Grave' which while not a bad song, does not boast the killer element that marks many of the other tracks out on this album; that said it does have a fantastic chorus, it just loses it's edge outside of this area. And that is probably the biggest drawback altogether with the album, you will come away from listening to it with many a chorus stuck in your head for days to come, but see how many verses you can remember.

Ultimately I must say that discovering this band has revitalized me somewhat, it has been a long time since I was so taken with hearing a band for the first time, and I believe that this album will have the same effect on many a music fan for years to come, as this is undoubtedly the best new album I have heard in a very long time.