Singles Roundup: The Darkness, Rise Against, Avantasia, & Rexoria

The start of the year has been a bit slow. Let's see what the ol' grab bag of singles has in store for us.

The Darkness - Rock & Roll Party Cowboy

Have you ever had a band that made you question your sanity? The Darkness is doing that for me. I still love "Permission To Land", but everything they've done since then has me wondering if I was suffering from temporary insanity. That reaches a fever pitch here, as they have finally hit the bottom of the barrel. This tuneless mess has the most boring talk-vocal I may have ever heard, as it not only has no melody to it, but it doesn't even say anything interesting. If this is supposed to be a party, it's a suicide party. I imagine if this song had been written at the time, it would have been enough to convince even more people to join the Heaven's Gate cult as they drank the poisoned Kool-Aid. I know The Darkness doesn't take themselves seriously, but how can you be tongue-in-cheek without having an ounce of humor in it? This song is a mime at an open-mic night; it's going to get beat up in the alley when it goes to take a leak.

Rise Against - Nod

I'm a bigger fan of the band's last two albums than a lot of people, which means this new single should be rather exciting. There's something rather disappointing about it, though. We are once again feeling like the world is on edge, and this song doesn't have the same energy or anger we expect from Rise Against. It feels tame, and with a production that pushes the vocal further back in the mix, it leaves the experience sounding soft and fuzzy rather than sharp and aggressive. With no album announced, it's odd for a one-off song to be so lackluster. Did the band feel this was the strongest statement they could be making right now? I suppose they must, but that invites even more questions. All I can say for now is that I'm nodding my head in disappointment, not in agreement.

Avantasia - Against The Wind

Every album Tobi puts out has at least one song that is power metal by-the-numbers. That's what this one is, and once again it leaves me feeling flat. Avantasia plays with many other styles of rock and metal, and I prefer pretty much all of them to the generic nature of this. The constant high vocals through the choruses are not my cup of tea, and have never been. Couple that with riffs that are the basic chugging kind offering no hook of their own, and it leaves the song without a focal point that can keep my interest. I was already nervous about the album just because of the dragon theme, but now I'm concerned the slow separation between my taste and Tobi's is reaching critical mass.

Rexoria - Mesmerize

A couple years ago, Rexoria's album "Imperial Dawn" was my favorite example of power metal. They were energetic, hooky, and a showcase for fantastic vocals. That record was everything I could have wanted, and a new single is perhaps an indication that more will be on the way soon. This song... is a case of perspective. The positive is that Rexoria are doing what they do best. This song is another bit of hooky power metal that blends cheese and power in perfect quantities. It's fun stuff, all around. The negative is that it sounds so much like their previous album, I was almost doing a double-take to remember which song the melody most reminded me of. There is having a signature sound, and then there's re-writing your own songs. This one is perilously close to the latter, so I only hope the band is a bit more careful about adding some diversity when a bigger batch of music comes along.