Album Reviews : Raunchy – Wasteland Discotheque

Raunchy, for those unaware, are a danish metal band. Their wiki page states they “combine elements from thrash metal, industrial metal, and metalcore (popularly called Futuristic Hybrid Metal)”, which sums them up pretty well. Kasper Thomsen was recruited for vocal duties after their then singer, Lars Vognstrup, left the band prior to the release of (arguably) their best album, Confusion bay in 2004. 2006 saw the release of their 3rd album, Death Pop Romance, which brings us to 2008 and the release of Wasteland Discotheque.

Raunchy have stuck with their winning formula of Jacob Hansen handling the production (along with raunchy), and also the mixing, and mastering on this release, creating a very polished product. The album kicks off in dramatic style with ‘This Blackout Is Your Apocalyspe’. An instrumental opener, and a damn fine one at the that, before kicking into ‘Somewhere Along The Road’ with full force. Thomsen screams his way into the song, and with some fear factory’esque riffing/drumming, is a sign of the more aggressive approach the band has taken since Thomsen joined.

‘The Bash’ brings back the melody with the keyboards, and finds Thomsen trading between metalcore screams, and for lack of better term, whining vocals during the chorus, but it works. The album continues in the same vain with ‘Warriors’, ‘Straight to Hell’, and ‘Welcome to storm’, but never seems like they ran out of ideas.

Raunchy have a history of doing covers. From Faith No More to Wham!.. from good to bad, and now pretty damn terrible. ‘Somebody’s Watching Me’, originally recorded by Rockwell, was his only hit featuring Michael jackson on vocals. So asking Raunchy to turn a turd into something special was asking a little too much. The song features some of the cheesiest keyboard heard in metal, along with the whiniest vocals, and just doesnt work. As a b-side, or a bonus track you could understand releasing it, but you have to question their judgement when shit like this is on the standard release.

From rock bottom, the band returns to the metal with ‘A Heavy Burden’. Featuring their original singer Lars Vognstrup on vocals along with Thomsen, it sounds like an unreleased track from Confusion bay, Which is neither a good thing or a band thing, it just doesnt stand out, which is a shame considering the potential it had featuring those 2 singers.

The album finishes off with ‘To The Lighthouse’, Showdown Recovery’ and ‘The Comfort In Leaving’ returning to the form of the first half of the album.

Although alot of the emphasis is put on the vocals, the musicans in the band are more then capable, and have written a great metal album. The band sums up the album well, describing it as “dirty, melodic, thrashy, epic, melancholic and heavy”.. and i love it. 8/10

Band: Raunchy
Album: Wasteland Diskotheque
Year: 2008
Genre: Futuristic Hybrid Metal
Label: Lifefore Records
Origin: Denmark
http://www.myspace.com/raunchy

Tracklist:

1 This Blackout Is Your Apocalypse (Intro)
2 Somewhere Along the Road
3 The Bash
4 Warriors
5 Straight to Hell
6 Welcome the Storm <- reviewers choice
7 Wasteland Discotheque
8 Somebody’s Watching Me
9 A Heavy Burden (feat. Lars Vognstrup)
10 To the Lighthouse
11 Showdown Recovery
12 The Comfort In Leaving