Be it Metal, Rock N' Roll, Pop or other, one needs a certain amount of talent to:

A. Do it right (i.e., decide which side one's on, and exploit the genre's boundaries to the max)
B. Convey feelings via the music (i.e., let the music speak for itself).
C. Generate emotions within the listener (i.e., not to leave the listener indifferent towards one's music).
D. A certain amount of talent to mix elements and genre extremes (e.g., Carnival In Coal, Solefald etc.,).

Alas Raunchy fail in all accounts.

Not only is "Death Pop Romance" written in a way that aims towards pleasing anyone on Earth (what makes it an annoyance to everybody in the end of the day), a "family product" that is neither this nor that, but also it owns a certain attitude that makes me feel that even the Metal-ish parts were written first and foremost with a wink towards the Pop consuming audience, which results eventually in a total approach of lack of seriousness even in the most "heavy" parts so-to-speak, of this album, as if a statement has been declared, saying something a long the lines of: "hey, even though we allegedly play some form of Metal here, don't take it too seriously because we don't, we really meant to play second-rate Pop music, and to prove it to you, we will be more bald with this statement in a few moments, after the nuisance of this heavy riff will be terminated…" or something like this…

Raunchy is a third-tier Meshuggah clone, and with this third (!!!) album it does not even come near albums such as "destroy erase improve" or Strapping Young Lad's "City", which are the first acts I could think of that had incorporated Metal (Post-Thrash maybe?), Hardcore, machinery and industrialization within their "Futuristic Metal" whatever that means…

"Death Pop Romance" is a pure Mtv product that will leave even the mediocre listener numb and indifferent, due to its utter failure in saying or doing something with the music here, that will generate even the slight emotion or interest within the average listener.

It's not that I'm a purist, I have never been one, and I'm proud to say I'm as open-minded as possible, but it's not about all those qualities; I do not care about classifications for my music, I do not care whether it's Metal altogether, all I want is for the music to move me, if only lightly, if only briefly…Am I asking too much here?

If this is "Futuristic Metal", Metal music does not have any future what-so-ever…

written by Chaim Drishner

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