UMUR "Velvet Noise" is the debut full-length studio album by Danish metal act Raunchy. The album was originally released through the Mighty Music sub label Drug(s) in 2001, but saw a reissue and a wider distribution through Nuclear Blast Records in 2002. Raunchy was formed as far back as 1992 and released three demos before being signed.

Stylistically the music on "Velvet Noise" is a melodic metal style combining elements from melodic death metal, industrial metal, metalcore and alternative metal. It´s actually not easy to pin down, but no matter what genre tags you put on the music, the band´s main focus is melody, melody and more melody. Even the most harsh parts on the album are melodic tinged or feature hooks of some sort, and that´s basically the story of Raunchy in a nutchell. Call it pop metal, death pop or whatever you like, but no one can deny that the music is damn catchy, instantly memorable and relatively sing along friendly, considering that this is still extreme metal of some sort.

The tracks are predominantly vers/chorus structured and the vocals are typically raw "core" tinged and aggressive in the verses and clean and melodic in the choruses. Keyboards are a dominant element in the band´s sound in addition to the regular rock/metal instrumentation of guitars, bass and drums. I´m often reminded of contemporary Soilwork and even Fear Factory, although Raunchy are not nearly as brutal or aggressive as any of those artists. "Velvet Noise" features a well sounding, clear and powerful sound production, which suits the material well.

And when the whole thing is delivered by skilled musicians and obviously written by composers who understand how to write memorable material, "Velvet Noise" ultimately comes off as a quality release. It´s also the band´s most raw sounding release and not nearly as polished as some of their later output, which is pretty great actually. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.