4

RASMUS sail away

Rasmus. Now it might surprise some that I used to like Rasmus. Right from their first album PEEP all the way back in 1996, they were interesting if direction free, an odd mix of ska, funk and rock, The next 2 were a bit light on the rock side, so I steered away from them. They started coming into their own in 2001 with the release of INTO. They beefed up the act a bit but still kept their feet in the melodic rock camp, at times sounding like the bastard son of Nik Kershaw.

DEAD LETTERS (2003) had some fine stuff on there. I hated the big single IN THE SHADOWS, much preferring the darker GUILTY.

So, where does this latest offering fit into the picture? I like it more than the ITS, it's a lot less annoying, but saying that, there's nothing really ROCK about it. It's melodic and quite pleasant. It's the kind of thing you'd put on your stereo if you were being nice to your parents. Not challenging in any way, shape or form. Nice fake strings toward the end though.