The Raz
s/t

Blues-rock from Canada, that is probably the way to describe this band called The Raz and their debut album. They set out to create music with a groove that isn’t much heard in rock music these days, which corrected for sales bullshit means that it is music for the old geezers who dream of past glories and imagine that things was better in the past. At least that is how I usually read that kind of writing in relation to an album, then as a critic I always listen to the albums with an open mind and mostly before really knowing anything about the band/artist itself. And this band is more or less exactly how they can be read in the press material, a band without any real creative ability.

It is blues-rock with decent energy and that sort of things, music that brings to mind bands like Zeppelin or their modern copycats Rival Rons, and some other similar things. Nothing The Raz does feels particularly personal, fresh or exciting – it just feels like a band that tries to emulate their idols and is pleased to make music without any originality. There are no surprises on this album; it is a standardised selection of songs, a genre typical vocalist and songs that feels like any other similar bands. Not the same groove as the best bands in the genre can show and not much in terms of variation, good thing is that they keep it fairly short with a little over 40 minutes of music but perhaps they could have done without the seven-minute long ending track.

This album gives me the same thoughts as when I have listened to Rival Sons, that is to say that it is completely unexciting and standardised blues-rock copied from their idols or the masters that has come before them. I think that The Raz are quite well described as pale copies of something that wasn’t really that exciting to begin with and if you want something unimaginative like that I think Rival Sons is a better choice than the Raz. In fact there isn’t much at all that excites with them and I wouldn’t even call this a promising debut, it isn’t too shabby but not exciting either.

I can recommend that you stay away from The Raz and their self-titled debut album, there are much better albums to chose from if you are looking for something new. This one neither has the groove or the quality to be particularly exciting. It is a pretty tired blues-rock album that I think we can all do very well without.

HHHHHHH