Raunchy – A Discord Electric (Lifeforce Records)
Tuesday, 19th March 2013
It’s easy to forget just how poppy and utterly non-metal Raunchy can be. After making significant headway with 2004’ s excellent Confusion Bay, the Danes have gradually settled into a niche few want to be a part of: pop metal, because that’s what Raunchy is – a pop metal band. A Discord Electric, in spite of some very glaring flubs, emerges as the type of saccharine, easy-come, easy-go record that ultimately defines Raunchy for what we just described them as.
Those in search of molten, hard-nosed metal moments would be advised to look elsewhere, as A Discord Electric quickly establishes itself with “Dim the Lights and Run” (happy chorus? Check.) and “Rumors of Worship,” a number that is chalk-full of totally-Euro keyboards and synths and a host of vocal variations from Kasper Thomsen. In fact, Thomsen gradually becomes the album’s focal point, oftentimes giving songs like “Street Emperor” and album highlight “Tiger Crown,” the type of stylized, commercial vocals they need.
On the flipside, there are some glaringly big dumb, DUMB songs here, namely “Nght Prty” and especially “Big Truth,” a song so wretchedly EMO and commercial that it threatens to put a black mark on the entire proceedings. The latter is such a grand detour that it prompts one to wonder exactly what the fuck the band was thinking by sticking such an out-of-place song in the middle of the album sequence. Head-scratching to the max.
Once around some of A Discord Electric’s misgivings, it’s readily apparent that no one currently does Euro pop metal like Raunchy. A few names come to mind (i.e. Sonic Syndicate, Mnemic), but neither quite have the gall, the balls, and poppy swagger to pull this off. The type of album that will rub you the wrong way AND invite more listens, A Discord Electric embodies the term “guilty pleasure.”
(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)
