General Info:
The band Raised Fist from sweden was formed in 1993, and released their major debut at Burning Heart records in 1998. Currently the band consits of five members: Marco, Daniel (both guitar), Oskar (drums), Josse (bass) and Alle (vocals). 'Dedication' is the third major album by the band.
The CD:
No big introduction here. From the first second this album goes off like there is no tomorrow. The first two tracks, "Get this right!" and "That's why", are fast as hell. The drumming is great, and the singer does his best to break the mike with his singing. But because of the high speed some details of the guitars and the bass just get lost in this wall of sound. That's kinda sad, cause I guess that could have been avoided (better mixing etc.).
What I like very much with this album is, that it does not get monotonious(sp?). Many other CDs of hardcore bands sounded very much the same to me after a while. Raised Fist get more rythmic ("Message beneath contempt"), and have some interresting changes ("Dedication", "Illustration of Desperation"), while progressing from track to track. On "Another day", there are even very melodic guitar parts, without any distortion or effects at all. Still there are a lot of sudden speed attacks any here and there. Very good, hard stuff.
The numerous bass 'solos' kinda suprised me where . Ok, maybe not the most high quality ones, that exist out there. After all, there is no Jaco Pastorious at work here. But they are a lot of fun to listen to, and fit the songs good. As well as the drumming, which I like a lot. (Check out the solo on "That's why". sounds pretty amazing) There is even a little 'duet' on this CD. The last track "Between the demons" features the singer of Defleshed, Gustav.
My personal favorites:
- Message between contempt
- Dedication
- Another day
- Get this right
To sum it up: 35 minutes of hardcore mayhem. Great, fast, hard music, that does not get boring hearing it over and over again. If you're looking for a good solid hardcore CD, chick this one out. To get a first impression of the band: You can get a gratis MP3 on the homepage. The links are listed above.
My rating: 3.5 - 4/5
