Russell HughesRave the Reqviem – The Gospel of Nil (Digital World Audio)
Genre: Electro-Industrial Metal
Rave the Reqviem break the mould in more than one way and The Gospel of Nil marks a new and exciting direction of the band.
Following in the footsteps of Finnish metallers Nightwish, Rave the Reqvim combine the beautiful and often spine tingling oprah style lyrics of Carola Lönnqvist with brutal electro-industrial metal.
The effect is a stunning hybrid of two genres that shouldn’t work but contrast each other in such as way as you’ll wonder why it isn’t done more often.
Rave the Reqviem originally started out as a one-man project, but those days are long gone as the group has evolved into a five person genre-bending masterpiece that includes a son and mother combination on the vocals.
There are also moments of surprising depth and emotional clarity, especially on the slower Black Dog Baptized, which seems to deal with mental illness and depression.
But there isn’t much time to take a breath and take stock of the music as the Swedish group smash through potential hits such as Synchronized Stigma and Mono-Heart.
There is no doubt that more and more musical boundaries are being broken as mankind progresses through the decades. This is still a relatively untested genre and in that respect Rave the Reqviem should be seen as one of the bands marking their territory.
Whether or not the movement will last is up in the air, but Rave the Reqviem are going to be at the front of the wave for the duration. Catch them while they’re hot, but more importantly catch them before you’ll have to fork out mega bucks for an arena show.
RUSHONROCK RATED: 8/10 Rave All Night