Crashdïet – Rust

6/10

New album, new vocalist… It sure does feel like original singer Dave Lepard did cast a curse upon this position when he died all those years ago. And the followups to Rest in Sleaze (2005) has had a hard time living up to the pressure of this great debut, and even though there has been a couple of really good albums, especially “Generation Wild” (2010), none has managed to take the band to their next step. Forever cursed indeed!

So what about their new album and new vocalist? Well, I don’t know. From my point of view, this is very “allright”. No songs stick that much out as great songs, but none is really bad either. It’s quite allright all the way through. So I guess it will leave the band in the same position as they were before they made this album; medium relevant. Still worth checking out, but not a leading act anymore.

The way I see it, “Rust” is sort of a middle of the road-album. If Gabriel Keyes is a shortlived middle of the road-singer or will grow to be a long lasting hero is yet to be seen. His first achievment with the band is quite restrained. But it can be restrained like Tony Martin was restrained on “The Eternal Idol”, before he grew to create a renaissance for the whole Black Sabbath legend with followup masterpiece “Headless Cross”! We’ll see about that further on.

My advice for Crashdïet is to really make a raw album next time, with very little studio interference. Just record it live in the studio with a punky feel and all, and don’t polish it in post. That is what I think is the best chance for this band to reach for the stars once again.

Band: Crashdïet
Title: Rust
Label: Diet Records
Date of release: 13/9-19
Time: 43,29
Rate: 6/10
Stand out tracks: Into the Wild