ALT BLK ERA - 'Rave Immortal' Album Review

Tracklist:
Straight To Heart
Come On Outside
Crashing Parties
My Drummer’s Girlfriend
Hunt You Down
Upstairs Neighbours
Come Fight Me For It
Run Rabbit
Catch Me If You Can
Rave Immortal

This band, with a very unusual name, consist of two sisters and their band mates. They are very much looking to break moulds on this, their debut album, think The Nova Twins meets Dua Lipa, Keith Flint is resurrected and joins in, they pinch some baselines from Joy Division and the Cure, some beats from the Chemical Brothers and then Little Simz appears out of nowhere then they all have an almighty party, and you won’t even get close!

There are thundering basslines, there are full on guitars, there’s dance beats, there’s rap, there’s tremendous vocals and, as if that wasn’t enough, there’s some fantastic song writing.

At times this is a very atmospheric record, at times a full on dance party, at others a rock album. They weren’t kidding about wanting to break the mould, you don’t know from one song to the next what you’re getting but the important thing is the level of quality doesn’t dip, doesn’t falter, at all times you just want it to keep going. There’s a feeling of sadness when it ends, so all you do is start playing it again.

Some of the baselines remind me of Joy Division but the the vocals are very much true to their roots, they are not trying to be American, or anything else, just very much who they are.

Some of the songs have a menace to them that makes you think this is a band that you don’t want to mess with, others have an almost serene quality to them, others just make you think you might have slipped away to 90’s Ibiza or that you’re in the middle of some of the early days of drum and base.

What comes across strongly is a sense of invention, of pushing the boundaries, of wanting to be something a bit different but also of wanting to build on what’s gone before. Think the Prodigy meets Pink, meets Evanescence, meets Roni Size meets The Chemical Brothers. I’m aware I’m dropping lots of names in this review, its only because they are so good at genre hopping, of mixing it up and producing something brilliantly new!

This is a wild ride of an album, you won’t put it on and have a nice relaxing time, you will want to jump, to dance, to throw yourself about and to also throw some shapes. I’d never heard of the band before listening to this but I’m now keen to know more. They are going on tour to support this debut, I suspect its going to be one of the live events of the year, get your tickets now, I’d love to be there and review it (subtle hint time if their management or PR read this).

I don’t know much about the band; I came to this totally fresh and now I can’t stop playing it. The vocal harmonies support the rap and the just sheer authenticity of something new, something genre bending, something that makes you want to hear and see them more.

I do want to know what their name means? It’s a brave decision to go with something so unusual but, when you’re this good, it doesn’t really matter what you’re called, people will learn it, this is soon going to be a band that we all know.

The tour is in relatively small venues now, that may not be the case for much longer, I suspect this band are about to experience a rapid rise, if they can keep producing albums and music like this then they have a future that is very, very bright!

Favourite song? Nope, I’m not telling you, not for this album, go listen to it yourself, although mostly because my favourite song keeps changing. How did something this good come out of nowhere and appear in my inbox? I don’t know but this is the kind of album I got into reviewing for.