Posted on: July 10, 2007 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Rasputina – Oh Perilous World / 2007 Filthy Bonnet Co / 12 Tracks / http://www.rasputina.com

The last time I heard of Rasputina, ey was pandering an album because it had a collaboration with Marilyn Manson on it. That was quite a few years ago, but I remembered that when I got a copy of eir latest album, “Oh Perilous World”, for review in the magazine. The compositions on this album are rock oriented with just a touch of goth influence at points. “Choose Me For Champion” is a track that could easily make it to alternative rock radio, with smoothed out instrumental compositions and a melodramatic set of vocals that are almost humorous at points.

The vocals will catch in individuals head; Rasputina is essentially what Pink would be if ey was more “real” and actually talented in regards to vocal arrangement. With “Choose Me For Champion”, Rasputina challenges the master of aloof, humorous gothic music in Voltaire. It becomes obvious during the “Choose Me for Champion” and “Cage in a Cave” that Rasputina is attempting to craft a thematic part of the album about Fletcher Christian, who was one of the mutineers of the book Mutiny on the Bounty. The blending of a current pop/rock sound with classical, Victorian-era composition makes a song like “Incident in a Medical Clinic” sound odd at first listen. However, by the time that the track ends, individuals will see the beauty of Rasputina and eir arrangements. The rock influences present in a song like the aforementioned “Incident in a Medical Clinic” link Rasputina to Hedwig and the Angry Inch, in the sense that both put out catchy rock that looked back at the seventies. Obviously, Hedwig isn’t real, but the absurdity of Rasputina provides a real-life relation to Hedwig.

“Draconian Crackdown” is perhaps the hardest rock track on the disc, and while it moves away from the classical style, the song works in the larger context of album in the catchy vocals of Rasputina during the track. The diversity of the 12 tracks on “Oh Perilous World” at first blush seems as if Rasputina threw scraps of tracks together without any rhyme or reason. However, taking the disc as a whole, this Neroean running through the fires of Rome fiddling has rhyme and reason. Rasputina comes out with a compelling album that challenges what individuals think about rock and classical music, and what is possible when one unites the two styles. “Oh Perilous World” is definitely an album to pick up, that is for sure.

Top Tracks: In Old Yellowcake, Cage in a Cave

Rating: 8.5/10

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