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Raunchy - Confusion Bay review




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Reviewer:
6.0

48 users:
8
Band: Raunchy
Album: Confusion Bay
Release date: 2004


01. Join The Scene
02. I Get What I See
03. Summer Of Overload
04. Watch Out
05. 9 - 5
06. Show Me Your Real Darkness
07. Confusion Bay
08. The Devil
09. Insane
10. Morning Rise And A Friday Night
11. Bleeding # 2

The way to describe Raunchy is: talented musicians, good music and godawful lyrics.

Lets start from the beginning: yes, the band members are truly talented. Their style is a somewhat more melodic and accessible variation of melodic death metal. At times the band sounds like Soilwork or early In Flames. There is also a Fear Factory influence present, as evident by the generous use of keyboards and the vocals, which alternate between an atonal bark and clean, melodic singing. And you know what? The band is really good at what it does. The music rocks! The drummer is a maniac. The guitarists are inventive. The various elements gel very well together and the music has a great groove and is full of energy. Awesome! I was really impressed by Raunchy when I heard them for the first time. Unfortunately, I decided to listen to the lyrics during the second attempt...

Ok, get this. Raunchy is a metal band. Fast, heavy and occasionally extreme. What would a band like that sing about? What would their themes be? NO! Its not what you're probably thinking - its... GIRLS! That's right! Raunchy sings about girls and 'big city life' and treats us to such unbelievably sophisticated lines as "We're going fast in our cars, astray/Girls seem prettier every day" ("Confusion Bay"). WOW! That's some serious social commentary! Oh well. I suppose at least they don't sing about dragons...

Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against lyrics that deal with everyday life, relationships and these generally more familiar topics. But you know what? I think Raunchy should listen to a bit of Life Of Agony or Katatonia to get an idea how to tackle this topic without sounding cheesy. Otherwise, I regret to say that it just makes Raunchy's music sound like a nu-metal rip-off.

I suppose its our luck that Raunchy's vocalist chooses to use his growly vocals very often on this album, thus doing us all a favour and making the lyrics difficult to decipher. Take my advice and try to ignore the lyrics. If you can do this, chances are you will find Raunchy's music quite enjoyable. "Join The Scene", "Watch Out", "Nine - Five", "Show Me Your Real Darkness" and "Insane" are all top notch tracks from a musical point of view. Great riffs and fresh ideas, not to mention the musicians' great abilities. The other songs are also all quite good. Therefore, if you're able to ignore the lyrics you can feel free to add another 2 points to the score that I awarded this album. Judging by the popularity of gothic metal, there are a lot of people who will do this. Otherwise, if lyrics do mean something to you, Raunchy's Confusion Bay will start to piss you off after a while. Its your call. You have been warned.





Written on 14.03.2004 by With Metal Storm since 2002, jupitreas has been subjecting the masses to his reviews for quite a while now. He lives in Warsaw, Poland, where he does his best to avoid prosecution for being so cool.



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