Review Rundown: Rains, Heart-Set Self Destruct, Razer, Alborosie, Ziggi Recado
Review Rundown V.46 features reviews of the latest
releases from Rains, Heart-Set Self Destruct, Razer, Alborosie, and Ziggi
Recado.
Rains – Stories:
Stories, the debut from Indiana’s
Rains, is a record that toes a very
dangerous and thin line between commercial viability and relative obscurity,
showing that, at times, this young band could be successful on the big stage,
though there are instances that show this band could easily be swept asunder
and forgotten in an instant. It’s not to say that Stories is an uneven record, though it does offer up more catchy modern
rock ballads that you can shake a stick at (“Five Minutes,” “Hurricane”), which
is not to say that Rains isn’t perfectly capable of turning the amps up to
eleven and rocking out (“Look In My Eyes,” “Pressure”), though one of the
glaring problems with Stories is that
those latter moments of anything other than radio-built tracks are too few and
far between. Lead single “Liar” is the sheer standout of Stories, and plenty proof this band has chops, though one song an
album does not make. Frontman Jeff Rains is the albums redeemer, as his voice
and personal songwriting style is able to create lofty melodies, leading the
vast majority of these tracks to be very hook driven. And while that’s not
truly a bad thing, Stories’ structures
are ultimately predicable, causing the album to tire and fade down the stretch.
It’s not a bad listen on the whole, but you could easily find yourself skipping
around from song to song rather than listening straight through. On the bright
side, this is only Rains’ debut, and there is room to grow. (www.rainsmusic.com)
Grade: C+
Go Download: “Liar”
Heart-Set Self Destruct - Of Nightmares (Soundmine Musicworks): There must be something in
the water in Chicago because the Windy City is quickly becoming a hotbed for
high quality rock bands – Fall Out Boy, Janus and now Heart-Set Self Destruct.
OK, that first one might be pretty arguable, but there’s no arguing the fact
that Heart-Set Self Destruct deserve to be in the conversation and now that
they’re armed with Of Nightmares, their
latest full length, they are ready to ascend to the ranks of the undergrounds
rock scene’s elite. Of Nightmares is
a sleeping giant waiting to be awoken with each press of the play button, a
record full of potential singles led by one of the albums standouts in
“Monster,” which features one of the most immaculate hooks you’ll hear in
sometime. Of Nightmares is a powerful
and engrossing affair, a record fraught with palatable emotion that bleeds
passion at all times, and no matter if you’re listening to any one of Of Nightmares’ massive, yet refined,
modern rock soirees complete with soaring hooks (“Lie to Me,” “Collapse,” “Burn
the Sky”), or diving through crashing waves in an emotional sea created by the
bands polished brand of balladeering (“Rain,” “Divide,” “Remedy”), Of Nightmares is both polarizing and impressive, two
adjectives that can also be used to describe the vocal work of frontman Dave
Naruszewicz. Heart-Set Self Destruct are ready to take the next step, thanks in
large part to Of Nightmares. (www.heartsetselfdestruct.com)
Grade: B+
Go Download: “Lie to Me”
Razer – Dark
Devotion (Blind Monkey): Sounding something akin to the bastard offspring
of Desentitized-era Drowning Pool and
pretty much anything written by Rev Theory or Burn Halo, Razer’s Dark Devotion hits like a concrete slab
of hard rock infused with just the right amount of metal. First though, a word
of advice – when you see Dark Devotion on
store shelves, Razer is not a goth band, despite the vampire themed artwork.
And boys, just because Atreyu was able to pull it off with their sophomore
album the Curse, it doesn’t mean
anyone can do it. OK, now back to your regularly scheduled program. From the
initial stages of Dark Devotion’s
opening track, “Do You Want It,” this album rarely slows, hitting hard early
and often like a straight-ahead runaway train as the band shreds its way
through one steamrolling track after another, full of a powerhouse twin guitar
assault from Jeromy Graves and Paul Sullivan accented perfectly by the gruff
vocal bellow of frontman Chris Powers (“Superpaun,” “Cold War,” “Right Kind of
Evil,” “Save the World,” “the Broken”). While “Never Understand” plays close to
what you would call a ballad, its booming riffs and thunderous atmosphere has
it playing out like the polar opposite of most touchy-feely modern rock ballads
you end up hearing on the radio every five seconds. Suffice to say, Razer
really only knows one speed and that’s pedal to the floor and balls to the
wall, and honestly, do you really want it any other way? Razer’s Dark Devotion is sonic proof that the
cavalry is on the way and that hope looms on the horizon for rock music, a
genre that won’t be dead anytime soon if Razer has anything to say about it. (www.razerband.com)
Grade: B+
Go Download: “Cold War”
Ziggi Recado – Ziggi
Recado (VP/Greensleeves): Hailing from the Netherlands by way of the
Caribbean island of St. Eustatius, Ziggi Recado owns a sound so deeply rooted
in the islands that you’d never thought he left, and latest self-titled album,
his third full length to date, is the best proof of what he is sonically
capable of we’ve seen yet. Ironically, this new album was recorded in Holland
and not the Caribbean, a fact that becomes more and more surprising the deeper
and deeper you get into listening. The opening track “Get Out” sets the bar
high and the tempo even higher via some well-placed pounding dancehall rhythms,
a sound that carries into the subsequent “New Day,” though the rest of this
eponymous work is far from more of the same. Rather than stay at home through
repetitive phrasings and looped beats, Recado decides, smartly, to move outside
his comfort zone as it were and try some new things from song to song, like
Indian percussion that leads to some almost ethereal moments (“Mr. Everything”)
and even some Motown-era R&B soul (“Real Talk”). With Ziggi Recado, there’s really something for everyone to like, from
dancehall to hip-hop to soul, and regardless of the track, there’s a good
chance you’ll be dancing sooner rather than later. (www.ziggirecado.com)
Grade: B
Go Download: “Get Out”
Alborosie - 2 Times
Revolution (VP/Greensleeves): Diversity is the name of the game when it comes
to the sophomore release from Alborosie, 2
Times Revolution, a powerful record with a purpose. It seems that Alborosie
isn’t content with playing the same song over and over, something that becomes
prevalent across the first two tracks. On the opening “Rolling Like a Rock,”
deep bass thumps abound before giving way to a steady hip-hop flow on
“Respect,” which features Junior ‘One Blood’ Reid. The vocal interplay is
seamless here, which leads you to hoping these two cats join forces in the
future. While “Who You Think You Are” pretty much steals the show early on,
there is a lot to sonically indulge in over the course of 2 Times Revolution, including some Spanish guitars and horns (“La
Revolucion”), reggae-hip-hop fusion (“Ragamuffin”) and even some opera, yes,
opera (“International Drama”), which finds Alborosie paying homage to his
native land of Italy. Etana guests on the beautiful standout track “You Make Me
Feel Good,” while the album’s best songwriting lies in the heartbreaking closer
“What If Jamaica,” a track that pensively reflects on a nation devoid of the
trials and tribulations that have plagued it for some time. 2 Times Revolution is the best album
Alborosie has set to wax yet, one we should all cozy up with in the very near
future. (www.alborosiemusic.com)
Grade: B+
Go Download: “Soul Train”
Comments