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.

J-Man Raunchy is among Denmark's most successful metal exports, and their fifth album, A Discord Electric, is definite justification for their praise. Here's an album that's filled with unforgettable choruses, tasteful musicianship, and overall strong compositions. Raunchy's style of super-melodic metalcore surely is not for everyone, but those who can tolerate a quality modern metal album should find plenty to love here.

The music on A Discord Electric is a mix of metalcore, melodic death metal, pop, and even touches of progressive metal. The prog metal touches lie mainly in the lush keyboard arrangements and atmospheric sections - a song like "Dim the Lights and Run" certainly has its progressive tendencies. For the most part, though, expect melodic metalcore with extremely memorable choruses. Most of Raunchy's strength lies in their ability to seamlessly mix crushing riffs with unforgettable melodies. This certainly isn't too "extreme" of an album, and most people who enjoy more melodic and commercial forms of metal should enjoy this one. The overall professionalism of A Discord Electric was one of the things that grabbed me from first listen; every single musician is a master on their respective instrument and the production is sleek, modern, and powerful.

All in all, if you're looking for some well-played and well-produced melodic metalcore, A Discord Electric is one of the best options out there. I can't say that this sort of thing is my preferred listening style, but there's more than enough quality music here to keep me satisfied the entire time. 3.5 stars seem fair here. This is highly recommended for fans of extreme metal on the less "extreme" side.

UMUR "A Discord Electric" is the 5th full-length studio album by melodic Danish metal act Raunchy. The album was released in October 2010 by Lifeforce Records.

Raunchy play a combination of styles such as melodic death metal, metalcore and pop/ rock. This is a mix of styles the band have played since the beginning. They´ve honed their craft along the way though and what we have here on "A Discord Electric" is probably the most memorable, well produced and well composed album yet released by the band. The first thing you notice when listening to this album is how good the band are at writing memorable chorus lines and secondly how close to being pop music disguised as metal they actually are. This shouldn´t be misinterpreted as something negative though, as one of Raunchy´s main appeals, definitely is their accessibility. They can go from playing powerful heavy riffs with synth backing and raw vocals to singing the most accessible chorus melodies in a matter of seconds and make it work. The opening track "Dim the Lights and Run" is probably the best example of this, but the quality is high throughout.

So if you´re interested in melodic and well composed metal with a focus on accessible melodies "A Discord Electric" is recommended. While some of the band´s influences are quite obvious ( I think there´s a very obvious Soilwork influence on the album. Albeit an influence from the most accessible part of Soilwork´s discography), Raunchy have their own sound. Generally the songs could have stood out a bit more from each other but that´s about my only complaint about the album so a 3.5 star rating is deserved.

UMUR Wasteland Discoteque is the 4th full-length studio album by Danish melodic death metal/ metalcore act Raunchy and the 2nd with vocalist Kasper Thomsen. The album was released in June 2008 by Lifeforce Records.

The music on the album is melodic death metal/ metalcore with raw vocals in the verses and clean sung choruses, layers of keyboards and vers/ chorus structured tracks. The tracks on Wasteland Discoteque are even more polished and accessible than the tracks on the predecessor Death Pop Romance (2006) which is also helped on the way by an even more polished and clean production by Jacob Hansen and Raunchy. I think the tracks are generally a bit more interesting than the tracks on Death Pop Romance and this time around there are even 3 tracks on the album that set themselves apart from the rest. Something that wasn´t the case on Death Pop Romance where I felt the songs sounded too much the same. The intro track This Blackout Is Your Apocalypse is a great way to start the album. Melodic and building atmosphere. The two other tracks that stand out on the album are the Rockwell cover Somebody's Watching Me, which fits great on the album and the closing track The Comfort of Leaving which has a slight progressive touch to it that I find refreshing considering the generally very formulaic nature of most the other tracks on the album. While the rest of the tracks might be a bit too formulaic for my taste, I would never deny that they are extremely well written with chorus hooklines and memorable melodies in spades. Acts like latter day Soilwork and In Flames are still the most obvious references but Raunchy takes the accessibility element a bit further. This is probably as close to pop music disguised as harder edged metal as you get.

Wasteland Discoteque is a really well written album and with excellent musicians as Raunchy playing the tracks even my complaints about formulaic structures and other minor issues are blow to bits. A 3 - 3.5 star rating is warranted.

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.