Raunchy returns with album number three entitled Death Pop Romance. This album is their first on Lifeforce Records and also marks the debut of new vocalist Kasper Thomsen. As the title suggests, the music combines melodic death metal with elements of pop. Inevitably, comparisons to Soilwork, In Flames, Fear Factory, and Strapping Young Lad will come up. After listening to this album, the comparisons may hold true, but there is a definite identity that Raunchy establishes on the album.
Having listened to previous albums Velvet Noise and Confusion Bay, I was expecting Raunchy to expand on their sound with Death Pop Romance. They do that, but with fairly good results. The moments where they go into thrash mode are good, but adding electronics to the mix adds to it in a way that will make the songs get stuck in your head for days. The sudden changes in rhythm that occur on Death Pop Romance allow the listener to catch their breath for a short time before going back into thrash mode. This is good because it helps to create their identity in how they sound. The vocals can be divided into two halves, the good and the bad. The good half primarily consists of the parts where Thomsen screams out the lyrics, which are shades of Anders Friden in the Colony era. Where the vocals are not so good is when the clean vocals come in. The pop-like clean vocals try to get too accessible, thus taking away some of the enjoyment value that I have for the album. This problem is especially evident on “Remembrance,” where the split in vocals is most evident.
I actually liked Confusion Bay despite the poor lyrics. With Death Pop Romance, it remains to be seen if they improved in that category, but the music is as good, if not better than Confusion Bay. The music has improved in fusing together the thrash riffs with the electronics and the drumming is still in top form. The vocals, especially the clean half, could be improved. It’ll be fascinating how Kasper Thomsen handles the earlier Raunchy material and how the band sounds live. I just hope that Raunchy doesn’t go down the path that Soilwork and In Flames have gone in terms of their sound.
