Doc MacNab

They enjoy straddling the growing divide between old-school rock'n'roll and the "alternative" (whatever that means) music of today's market. They pull it off with panache. "Ghost Chain" is something dark, unique and powerful, but hampered by a slightly muddy sound (I'm not sure if it's the duplication process.) Recorded at Osceola Studios in Boylan Heights, Raleigh, in late 1992, this trio kicks major gluteous maximus.... Compelling music. - The Spectator (The Independent Weekly)

Source: http://mostlymusic-sdmprecords.blogspot.com/

Mostly Music

A blog by Ian at SDMP Records mostly about music, but there will be the occasional post not related to music, if the spirit moves me.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

"Dirt Collector" by The Raygun Girls

WARNING! This CD is not for the timid, and definitely not for folks who get "pysched" to go to a New Kids on the Block reunion show, but it is recommended for fans of Lacuna Coil and Evanescence.

The Raygun Girls is a female fronted Alternative Hard Rock group from New York heavily influenced by Gothic, Industrial, Punk and Metal music. After securing a record deal with KillZone Records, as well as a new lead vocalist (Cila), The Raygun Girls headed into the studio and the result is "Dirt Collector", where the guitars are crunchier, the vocals are more powerful, and the songwriting is tighter than any of their previous recordings, which includes, "The Ones I Denied", an album recorded with members of The Clay People.

I started listening to "Dirt Collector" and immediately thought to myself, if you're going to open your CD with an audio clip of Christopher Walken threatening to stick a soldering iron in your face, you'd better be able to back up that intensity throughout the CD. The Raygun Girls do just that on "Dirt Collector".

With good songwriting and musicianship, The Raygun Girls have put together 12 strong songs, and are able to use all the members' talents to their advantage throughout the CD. The band didn't go for one or two "singles". All the songs on the CD flow effortlessly from one to another and it gives the listener the feeling that all the songs belong on the same CD, and weren't written with the intention of having any songs that stand above the others, they all stand together as part of an entire recording.

Doc's intensity on drums, George holding down the low end on bass and contributing on backing vocals, and Geoff on crunchy and thick guitar sounds throughout the CD, backing vocals, and programming help lay down a thick wall of sound for Cila to showcase her voice. She is complemented throughout the CD by the vocals, and growls, of George and Geoff who take over when the music is not suited to Cila's melodic voice, and it takes some musical maturity to know that certain voices are not going to fit in certain places.

After listening to "Dirt Collector", I picture The Raygun Girls live show going something like this:
1) A pause between every two songs for Doc to replace his drum heads from beating them with pure rock angst.
2) All the lights going out in the venue due to, what sounds like on the CD, a wall of Marshall guitar amplifiers (all turned up to 11 of course).
3) George needing a steady intake of Red Bull to continually pound on the bass at the songs' tempos (not slow) throughout the performance.
4) Cila wanting to perform longer since singing sounds like an effortless task for her.

"Dirt Collector" is a really good CD as far as standard rock goes, but there is so much more here than "standard rock" that it's worth checking out, especially if you're a fan of Lacuna Coil and Evanescence.

"Dirt Collector" is scheduled for release during the summer of 2009, and if you want to pick up a copy, or learn more about The Raygun Girls, swing by: http://www.raygungirls.com/ or www.myspace.com/theraygungirls
Posted by sdmprecords at 1:34 PM
- Mostly Music

UKMetalUnderground

April 2009, 18:57

UKMetalUnderground
Author Thread: REVIEW: THE RAYGUN GIRLS
Digideus, Global Moderator, Royalty

REVIEW: THE RAYGUN GIRLS
« on: 30 March 2009, 03:15 »
Quote

MYSPACE BAND REVIEW
THE RAYGUN GIRLS
http://www.myspace.com/theraygungirls

Reviewed by: DIGI
I HATE RUN OF THE MILL FEMALE FRONTED GOTH-METAL/POWER METAL BANDS!

Let me get that out of the way right now. There's not a lot in that whole scene that makes me sit up and notice with the exception of a few bands who really helped to mold the genre in the early days (Lacuna Coil, Within Temptation, Nightwish,
etc...). The problem for me is that I much preferred these bands when they weren't famous and achieved egos as large as their aspirations. When I checked this band out and read that they were... "an Alternative Hard Rock group with a true mixture of dance beats, metal guitars, catchy choruses, angelic/sexy vocals and aggressive lyrics." I started to worry!

Thankfully, The Raygun Girls aren't dire and I didn't find myself reaching to the "NEXT" button when listening to them. Its straight forward, Lacuna Coil style, female fronted metal. In fact lets not be coy here, Put this on and you could actually be listening to Lacuna Coil!!! Its exceptionally close in terms of sound and style, but that's not exactly a negative thing here as the song "Paranoia" is a bone-fide class song. Its perhaps been massacred by Myspace's compression which made the mix a bit muddy, but as a song its got a lot going for it and its a good start!

Unfortunately, the rest of the clips here from the forthcoming album are pretty much exactly the same. There's not a lot of variation in the songs here, in fact, The clip from "Fighting Memories" could be from exactly the same song!



I'm not knocking the band just because they are of a particular style, far from it... they are actually very good at what they do, but its the variation of that style that seems to be lacking. For die hard Lacuna Coil fans, this is probably not a problem and wont deter them from falling for this band in a big way, but for me, its not enough. They DO make use of synth drum beats and male vocals as well which colour their music and show the signs of progression toward their own sound, but the lack of full songs to listen to on the myspace page doesn't help build a full picture of the progression they have made with a new singer and new material in tow. Perhaps the new album "The Dirt Collector" will be a massive step forward for this band, but based on the stuff here, I have to say that its a very good attempt to re-tread what has been done before by artists that have gone on to be consumed by the commercialism and ego associated with the female fronted metal band genre. Maybe there's a place for the Raygun Girls to carve out their niche, but I cant hear it yet, however, Its not terrible by any means and if this if your "thing", im sure you'll find something worthwhile here.

MARKS: 6.5/10 - UKMetalUnderground.com