UMUR Death Pop Romance is the 3rd full-length studio album by Danish melodic death metal/ metalcore act Raunchy. The album was released in 2006 by Lifeforce Records. A couple of changes has taken place as the band was dropped by Nuclear Blast Records after Confusion Bay (2004) and lead vocalist Lars Vognstrup left the band to be replaced by new singer Kasper Thomsen.

The music however hasn´t changed much since the last album. We´re still treated with melodic death metal/ metalcore in the vein of the most pop oriented Soilwork tracks and post Clayman (2000) In Flames. The songs on the album are very polished and accessible with easy to remember choruses, loads of keyboard layers and a lead vocalist that sings raw in the verses and clean in the choruses. This is just about as generic as it gets IMO and if it wasn´t for the fact that Raunchy are skilled songwriters and excellent musicians Death Pop Romance could have failed badly. I wouldn´t exactly call the music original and the songs sound a bit too much the same in addition to being very formulaic vers/ chorus structured, but they are damn catchy and well written. The change on the vocal spot is more or less something that I didn´t notice. So for fans of the band there should be no issue there.

The production by Jacob Hansen and Raunchy suits the music well. It´s full-on attack on the senses.

I´ve enjoyed my listening sessions with Death Pop Romance, but to be honest it´s not an album I can listen to very often. For that I find it way too polished and formulaic for my taste. Fans of the above mentioned acts and their softer and more pop oriented accessible tracks should definitely check out Raunchy though. If you´re interested in the style I´m sure you´ll find this album instantly enjoyable. A 3 star rating is warranted. I would have given a 3.5 if the album had been a bit more varied.