Revengine

Plan Your Escape EP

Written by: PP on 20/11/2009 18:30:01

I don't mean to sound biased or patriotic, but Finland's music scene shares some of the same properties as the Canadian and Australian scenes, the most important one being that seemingly every band you hear about is well above average regardless of the style of music in question. Hailing from the Lapua-Kauhava-Seinäjoki area of Western Finland, Revengine and their six-track debut EP "Plan Your Escape" are another great example of the solid foundations that Finland's music scene is standing on.

Popping in the disc for the first time, the band that straight away comes into mind is their fellow countrymen Smokesuit, because vocalist Jokiranta sports a rather similar grungy singing style as Marcus Hietanen of said band. But soon enough you'll notice that where Smokesuit are content at re-interpreting Nirvana's legacy into a modern version, Revengine have instead been inspired by the American mainstream rock / post-grunge scene. Bands like Alter Bridge, Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin, or Smile Empty Soul all come into mind, though Revengine's expression certainly isn't as pompous and over-inflated like their overseas colleagues. Throw in a little Backyard Babies influence and you have a band that's standing at mid point between the US and European mainstream rock scenes. It's quite interesting to compare the final product with their Myspace influences section, where you'll find names like Pantera, Metallica, Down and Fear Factory, because I for one struggle hearing few if any pieces of sound directly influenced by those bands.

There's a distinct feel all around the EP that Revengine are standing firmly with their feet on ground even as their verse-chorus-verse structure lends itself for huge airplay in modern rock stations across the world, although it is possible - perhaps likely - that in the future their sound will expand in proportion with the production budget. That's why a song like "Given It All" doesn't sound like as big of a guilty pleasure as it perhaps should given its melodic post-grunge chorus tailored for the US Billboard Modern Rock chart, and why Staind-sounding ballad "Live In A Moment" works so well. I'm even tempted to argue that Revengine's interpretation of American radio rock is actually more convincing than many of the bands it is mirroring itself against, because at no point does the EP sound shallow or weak....which is something you can't say about Three Days Grace, for example. Now only if they had a better band name....

7

Download: Given It All, Fear Me
For the fans of: Alter Bridge, Breaking Benjamin, Backyard Babies, Smokesuit
Listen: Myspace

Release date 14.08.2009
Self-Released

Related Items | How we score?
Comments
comments powered by Disqus

Legal

© Copyright MMXXIV Rockfreaks.net.