A Discord Electric isn't the first album by Raunchy, but it's honestly one of the bands more interesting efforts. Once hailed as a band that took the more common Gothic Rock/Metal sound and ran with it, creating common generalizations between them and many other acts, both in the style, as well as their own home turf. However, A Discord Electric is one of the band's most diverse efforts, as well as one of their most acquired taste releases that, even then, becomes a little hard to swallow, thanks to the wide jumps between styles in a manner that shows potential, but at the same time, often clashes and simply sounds cluttered.
Basically, the music on A Discord Electric is if you were to take one of today's more well known Metalcore acts that have a bit of a kick to them, throw in some well done Melodic Death aspects, then mix it together with a sound that is more of an Electronic/Industrial H.I.M., and you get Raunchy. While A Discord Electric is not far from a bad album, the band, unfortunately, tries to bring too much of the many styles they play into one sound. Sometimes it works out well, but then there are times where it just flat out sounds horrible. A great example of this would be the song "Rumors of Worship", which isn't all that bad a song, but it just conflicts upon itself so horribly. Vocally, the approach on this, and many of the songs, is comparable to a less powerful Soilwork approach, often showing some similarities in pitch, but the main music comes off as a Gothic Metal meets Melodic Death Metal sound, which often works well and creates a very heavy atmosphere for the song. But, the part that causes the song to implode on itself is the chorus, which bursts right into an Electronic Pop-Synth moment, complete with clean singing, completely clashing with the rest of the song/ However, the second time it hits, there is a nice lead in that accompanies it, which causes it to actually work with the song, which really is what seems to be missing at times through A Discord Electric: Better lead ins. The breakdown that accurs later on in the song also hits out of nowhere, though the guitars that happen in the background sound nice, and the song completely changes once again, leaving you wondering just what the hell is going on, showing a more Progressive nature for the band, but without any real Progressive aspect to the music outside of random changes.
Of course, all of this leads to a whole other problem. One of the main addictions that Raunchy seem to have with this album is repetition. Many of the songs follow the same by numbers pattern of screaming everything but singing the chorus. However, in this case, when the chorus hits, everything goes electronic, which, unless led into properly, sounds horrible. There is no denying that the actual music on this release that composes everything but the chorus is insanely heavy at times. One listen to the following track "Night Party" will be enough to convince any metal fan that this band has what it takes to create an uncompromising Melodic Death Metal album, but the random Industrial aspects in the chorus hold the material back so bad, and it's constant. "Night Party" also shows how the band can horribly damage a song through this repetitive manner of song construction thanks to how weak the vocals, as well as the music, sound when it hits, compared to the rest of the music. Even the bridge near the end that brings in clean singing and a heavy keyboard influence to create atmosphere that slows the song down sounds better, and stronger, then the chorus does for this song. Either way, this is still one of the more enjoyable tracks on here, but would have been a fantastic song all around had there been more power and drive behind the chorus, priarily in the vocals, in order to save the song.
After a rough start, A Discored Electric does start to pick up. "Shake Your Grave" continues the band's repetitive nature of scream verse, sing chorus, but it lacks the serious clash factor. The music on this song is, again, simply heavy. The vocals here are also much deeper, which really works out in the album's favor as the higher pitched screams get old really quick, and this style suits the music more, as well as offers a little more leway to mess around with the pitch and tone of the vocals period. The song has a much darker feel to it, and the chorus isn't a straight forward Techno-inspired Synth-Pop Industrial sound like on practically every track before it, focusing solely on being more light hearted through keyboards and the traditional singing. However, it does rear it's head as a bridge later with vocals through a hollow radio effect with a little Electronic going on in the background, almost giving off an astral feel to it similar to the keyboards in the chorus, but also have some clapping going on to the song, really ushering in a mainstream sound that doesn't quite clash with the song, but simply sound ridiculous. Luckily these clap effects are not included in the ending of the song, which is similar to that bridge, but a little more enjoyable thanks to there being more substance to it then just simple techno effects and a clap once in a while. Another track here that isn't too bad is "Big Truth", but that's mostly because it's a song that doesn't do the same thing over and over as every other song here, and actually shows the band's pop-music appeal by composing a catchy song that is more a straight forward Synth-Pop song. Finally, the closing track "Ice Vampire" is basically sheer perfection for Raunchy, perfectly blending their need for Synth-Pop in the mix and Melodic Death Metal, as well as dropping all repetition that haunted this album, as well as "Gunslingers and Tombstones", except this track is a lighter version that follows that same repetitive pattern that has appeared throughout the album, just minus the clashes Synth-Pop chorus. The problem here is that it comes out of nowhere and really enrages the listener more because, while it's a good song in general for what it is, considering the music they play, there are more people out there hoping for a more straight forward Melodic Death Metal song then a top 20 radio countdown hit.
When you look at A Discord Electric, it's much like the band's previous releases, except the focus just continues to become blurred and focused on one specific thing. While the album is strong musically, with the exception of the clashing between Synth-Pop Industrial elements and Melodic Death Metal, it shows great potential from the band. However, that clashing that greatly disrupts the band's potential is enough to frustrate the listener to the point where he/she will pull their hair out. There's a number of incredibly heavy song that really make you want to just start moshing or even beating the living hell out of the nearest living thing, until that random Electronica moment kicks in and stops you dead in your tracks. The only time that metal fans will really feel whole with anything on this release will be the song "The Great Depression", which is simply a fantastic Melodic Death Metal song full of pure intensity, speed, one hell of a guitar solo, and enough Melodic aspects that don't go over the top into a mainstream appeal, but keep the bite of the style that makes so many bands in that field a household name. There's also "The Yeah Thing" which is a much lighter song, but it doesn't clash within itself and becomes an enjoyable track, much like the aforementioned "Shake Your Grave". In the end, it all comes down to experimentation with this band. Raunchy is clearly for a niche market, but still features songs that appeal to the metal universe, as well as the pop musical field. Together, they're ok, but for the most part, there's a lot of clashing going on due to improper transitions, and just such a dramatic difference between the two regardless of the transition, leading to what could be one of the most frustrating albums to ever be a part of metal's history.
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