siLLy puPPy The trance metal world grew out of the industrial section mostly influenced by the Neue Deutsche Härte (New German Hardness) movement of the 90s that was made popular by Rammstein and as the 21st century began, many new artists were undertaking the complete fusion of electro-industrial and techno with the bombast of metal. While Rammstein started the ball rolling with their Einstürzende Neubauten meets Nine Inch Nails industrial metal heft, newer bands like Blood Stain Child and Russia’s XE-NONE crafted a fusion more dominated by the electronica side of the equation.

Having formed in Kirov, Russia in 2004, XE-NONE took the electronic sensibilities of electronic dance music with extreme metal riffing along with a few death growls. The two founding members Lexy Dance (vocals, programming) and Newman (syntthesizers, programming) cranked out a few shorter EPs before releasing their debut album DANCE METAL (RAVE)OLUTION which sounds exactly as the title suggests, namely dance floor friendly electronic grooves with heavy bombastic power chords and guitar riffs.

Overall the band exudes a rather generic dance music style with a rather generic metal bombast. What makes the band sound somewhat unique is the dual vocal attack of EvilAnn’s operatic clean vocals exchanging with the extreme metal growls and grunts of Lexy Dance. Trance metal is characterized by a fast tempo ranging between 130 and 160 BPM and XE-NONE keep a quickened pace throughout their (RAVE)OLUTION. In accordance with the definition of this sub-genre, XE-NONE keeps things melodic with pop hooks and provide a more uplifting feel than is typical of the grimier world of industrial metal.

DANCE METAL (RAVE)OLUTION is ultimately quite the boring affair. Generic dance metal programmed loops offer a never changing repetitive series of synthesized riffs and beats with the accompanying lackluster vocal effects of EvilAnn and Lexy. The pop hooks are rather blah and the album goes on way too long. EvilAnn’s operatic vocals sound completely out of place and the metal riffs are wimpy. This is really uninspiring in pretty much every possible way. This isn’t really a sub-genre that appeals to me tremendously not because it doesn’t have potential but because it’s performed in such a lackluster way. If you want good trance metal check out Infected Mushroom’s “Legend Of The Black Shawarma” but this one is a big boring blah.