clik4music

The album begins with the title track and sets the tone for the first two-thirds of the album. This is solid rock with elements of melodic gothic and various sub-genres of metal liberally included throughout. The rhythm section of George (bass) and Doc (drums) provides the power, with Geoff (guitar) joining George on backing vocals on most songs. 

Lead vocalist Cila has a strong and often soaring voice, which is heard to good effect on the second track Look At Me. She has a clear and crisp delivery, a good contrast to the tight and layered musicianship.

With the third track Matter of Time I was starting to wonder where RayGun Girls fit in the overall rock spectrum. They refer to a wide variety of influences, but they are not as ‘metal’ as Lacuna Coil, nor as punk as the Ramones.

Paranoia is a hefty dose of indie-ish rock, catchy enough for radio and tv music shows which may attract new followers.

With Burning and Intentions there is an indication of possible future strengths. At the moment many of their songs sound ‘new’ in the sense of a bit safe. Good but safe. Burning and Intentions are looser and imply they could be big hits in their live shows. Also Cila’s vocals are more interwoven with these songs, so the impression is of a more integrated band. The earlier tracks sound a bit like a lead vocalist over the top of backing tracks, so hover around a 3-star rating. My guess is the material is mostly new and the band members are still getting used to each other.

A more melodic style is used for Fighting Memories, perhaps the most ‘New York’ of the songs on this album - which is no bad thing. The next track Remembrance sounds like part two of Fighting Memories and maybe mashing the two together would create a killer 5-star track rather than two 3-star songs. The outro of Remembrance is a great riff to build on.

Learning to Die returns to the band’s gothic roots, one of my favourite styles of music so maybe not a surprise this is the killer track for me on the album. Accelerate is not far behind, although my guess is Geoff takes the lead vocal role and so some metal fans may prefer the track. Ones I Denied is similar, with Cila back to lead vocal duties.

The final track is the sort of musical noise (aka ‘progressive rock’) that could be good in certain clubs for knowing audiences, but here SO1210 just sounds out of place. Maybe it is a throwback to earlier times, or a snippet of things to come. Either way, to my ears it detracts from the three great gothic-style tracks before it.

Overall, then, plenty of promise and 6 tracks which could be added to many a playlist.