Tag: The Storm

The Storm – Raver

“I’m expecting Scooter levels of intensity here, albeit with a bit less SHOUTING.”

Tim: With an act called The Storm and a song entitled Raver, you’ve probably got a few expectations about this track, and while I won’t spoil anything before hand, I will say that anyone with photo-sensitive epilepsy may wish to turn away before pushing the play button.

Tom: Let’s put it this way: I’m expecting Scooter levels of intensity here, albeit with a bit less SHOUTING.

Tim: And be honest: that met them, didn’t it?

Tom: I’m not sure my headphones could cope with that. I’m not sure YouTube compression can cope with that. I’m not sure speakers can cope with that. They’ve thrown everything at that chorus – it’s a shame they couldn’t have dipped the verses by a couple of decibels so it wasn’t all so distorted, but that’s not how music works these days. That’s a minor technical complaint though: it’s not like I’d notice that in a club. I’d be too busy danc– WHOA! dubstep out of nowhere!

Tim: It has everything (everything) a modern dance rave number needs, up to and including the dubstep breakdown. Wonder if we’ll ever stop mentioning those?

Tom: Not when they’re as startling as this one. Dubstep breaks your dance up like very little else – you can’t just put your hands up in the air to it, it’s too rhythmic for that, but it’s too slow for club dancing. I’m sure people manage it, but I can’t think how.

Tim: MOVEMENTS. As in, hands up and sway with occasional sudden sweeps, almost interpretative dance style. At least, that’s how I do it.

And even the video sets the scene nicely, going with the lengthy post-chorus thrash-your-head-around-until-your-neck-hurts. And of course there’s the chorus, which starts off on a triumphant note and then brings in a great melody and lyrics that just sound great.

Tom: And the last chorus in particular is gorgeous – how the piano synth is still audible under that wall of sound, I’ve no idea.

Tim: PURE VOLUME. But actually, those lyrics only really sound great provided you don’t listen too closely, because if you do you’ll find out that this beat-heavy jump-all-over-the-place number is in fact a fairly soppy “I’m leaving you” track in very heavy make-up, and to be honest I don’t know if that spoils it a bit or makes it even more awesome. I think it’s the latter, so super.

The Storm – My Crown

How do you fancy a sort of rock/schlager blend?

Tim: So, how do you fancy a sort of rock/schlager blend?

Tom: What, like Goldschlager?

Tim: Oh, Christ.

Tom: Yeah, sorry, my puns have been disappointing lately.

Tom: The introduction kicked in, and I thought “well, that’s OK”. Then the second introduction kicked in, and I thought “that’s excellent”. The chorus is great, the verse not so much.

Tim: Well, in my view, this is pretty good all over. It’s not perfect – could probably do with cutting thirty seconds or so, and I’d prefer it didn’t have a fade-out ending – but these negative points are outweighed by the good, which include, well, the rest of it, really.

Tom: Agreed. It almost sounds like a rockier version of ABBA.

Tim: One of the nice things is the way the intro gives no clue as to the rest of the track – that bass line really doesn’t sound like much like the rest of it, which is poppier even though there’s still quite a lot of melancholiness there. The piano/guitar/other stuff instrumentation all goes along nicely, and the tone of the vocals is ever so slightly disturbing. And that’s a good thing, I think.