Review Summary: Hard rock/nu-metal master class.
Ra’s fourth album is both surprising and unsurprising in its direction. On one hand it harkens back to the heavier, darker days of
From One, but on the other hand radio friendly tunes are plentiful. It’s somewhat of a mixed bag like
Duality, but heck, it’s all good music. As is Ra tradition, expect catchy tunes with gorgeous melodies, a healthy dose of spankin’ guitars, and one of the best vocalists in the hard rock/nu-metal genre.
Critical Mass lives true to its name, and is the pinnacle in its genre, with a seamless combination of nu-metal angst/aggression and accessibility. You’ll find plenty of variation in this album, yet it feels incredibly balanced, combining old and new as they’re meant to be together.
Critical Mass is classic Ra through and through, and that is indeed a good thing.
Using an arsenal of Middle Eastern instruments, Ra brings to mind bands like Myrath and The Tea Party (both fantastic bands), but manages to have their own voice. Expect loads of songs in the style of their most popular and fantastic song ‘Do You Call My Name’, highlights being ‘Brutiful’, ‘It’s All Over Now’, ‘Running Blind’, and ‘The Voice Inside My Head’. The Arabic melodies get a little crazy. The voice of Sahaj Ticotin, the lead singer, also makes
Critical Mass a unique and stunning affair - just check out ‘It’s All Over Now’, which includes one of his best vocal performances since ‘Violator’ (he even beatboxes in the song, I shit you not). It’s sufficient to say that the album is quite creative.
This is definitely Ra’s easiest album to get into, but make no mistake, this album still shreds. Included in the album are some of Ra’s most aggressive songs. While
Black Sun was fairly relaxed,
Critical Mass simply explodes, and it doesn’t stop radiating until the end of the album. Fans of Ra and hard rock/nu-metal rejoice, but for everyone else
Critical Mass is still incredibly fun.
