Raymond'01'

Planetary Group

Grade: C+

"01" is the debut CD of the Boston-based band Raymond. Formed in 1999, the band consists of singer and guitarist Noel Heroux, bassist Chris Principe, drummer Seth Kasper and guitarist/keyboardist Bill Zern. Raymond's music is described as having "the energy and audacity of punk, the thoughtful songwriting of contemporary indie rock and (taking) a page from early 80s New Wave (but only the good stuff)."

The first song, "Nonsense," opens with an energetic, pulsating guitar riff, as Heroux croons the lyrics, "Some would blame it on the world / But I put it on myself." Although Heroux is from Boston, his voice contains a puzzling hint of a British accent. His vocals are reminiscent of an 80s punk band, but the music has more of a rock sound with a little bit of emo mixed in. The percussions provide an added energy with its aggressive rhythm. The middle of the song features a short and unimpressive guitar solo.

The second track, "Trust Me," begins with a heavy emphasis on the bass and a slightly harder edge on the guitar than the first song. Despite the harder rock, almost metal sound of the song, it was still a surprise when toward the end of the song, Heroux adds a slight screech to the end of a lyric. But instead of adding anything to the track, the cat-like screeching only causes the listener to cringe in annoyance.

The song "Seven Up" starts out a little less energetic than the songs before it, with more of an emphasis on the keyboard instrumentals. But as with many rock songs, the heavy guitar rhythm quickly kicks in for each chorus. Although its formula is unoriginal, this is still one of the catchier songs on the album.

During the track "Sunshine," Heroux miserably tries to showcase his singing ability. Unfortunately, his voice is more whiny than pleasant-sounding. In the middle of the lyrics, he covers the chorus of the song, "You Are My Sunshine," by Bing Crosby. This phrase, which is usually associated with children's rhymes rather than hit rock songs, would have been better left out of the track.

The last track, "Soft Touch," is a very bizarre metal tune, with keyboard effects fit for a Halloween party soundtrack. There are no lyrics in this beginning of this brief instrumental jam and the sound ends rather abruptly, going silent for several seconds. When the music picks up there is a satanic sounding voice, chanting nonsense phrases. While listening, I couldn't help but nervously wonder if the devil had taken over my computer. Heroux's voice is only mildly melodic and tends to be annoying at times.

Heroux's song melodies lack variation as he appears only capable of producing a narrow range of pitch. While the instrumentals are solid and are fairly original from track to track, they are not impressive enough to make the songs noteworthy. Raymond might want to put together a few more tracks, since this five-song EP isn't going to make the Billboard Top 40 anytime soon. That is, unless the last song is actually an effective brainwashing tool for record buying.