RAUNCHY - Velvet Noise
December 30, 2002, 21 years ago
(Nuclear Blast)
Not since Dew Scented has a band's name and sound been so horribly mismatched. So, put aside the '80s sleaze preconceptions the Raunchy moniker naturally lead you to, and take a listen to the coolest top-shelf cyber-metal since Strapping Young Lad, or Fear Factory's hey-day. Raunchy is a unit that knows no confines within the groove-laden world of industro-metal, and exploits its boundaries by both paying homage to its influences (the above mentioned plus Machine Head), while also pushing its sound into newer, more cutting-edge directions. Amongst swooshes, electro-double bass and dead-on Burton C. Bell clean/death vox comes a sense of urgency and hunger, but not at the expense of conventional song-structure. This is organized chaos in the sense that the band pillages with absolute precision but, in direct contrast, leaves only messy rubble in its path. Along with December, Raunchy might just be the second coming of Soul Of A New Machine. Somewhere, Dino Cazares wonders what the hell happened.
