Seems like Raised Fist lost something important on their way. I really like the two records before or at least a few songs from each. They were producing such an unforgiving power and pressure that they just overwhelmed me.
On the new record they sort of tried to broaden their style and do more experiments with sound effects and even not shouted vocals and stuff. This pretty much went wrong in most cases. The whole production is too tame and jawless. The guitars sound like distorted vacuum cleaners. I also miss the typical hidden melodies in the guitar walls that were so characteristic for Raised Fist on their last releases. On this record I can only find them on “some of these times”, the only song I really like…
Something must have gone wrong in the mixing or mastering process here. Guitars and bass really can’t strike a shit and the bass drum sound really crappy. Of course sound is not everything but Raised Fist do need a certain sound to work and this sound is not given here, sorry… I am sure that the band has not unlearned their abilities, book this one under ‘shit happens’ and wait for the next one to be better again… PS: The photos in the booklet are nice.
[jan]
www.myspace.com/raisedfist
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