Razer – Dark Devotion (2009)
It seems like every year there is a solid new modern hard rock act that comes along. After listening to Razer’s new CD, Dark Devotion over the last few weeks, I would have to say they are one of the best new metal acts that I have heard in a long time. At first I thought Razer sounded like a decent mix of bands like Godsmack & Drowning Pool. In all honesty, that isn’t really fair, they may be better than both of those bands.
The first thing I noticed about Razer was the vocals of Chris Powers. Powers delivers the songs on Dark Devotion with plenty of conviction, and he has just enough roughness in his voice to make the songs interesting. The rhythm section of Razer is damn near perfect. Thundering drums and heavy bass lines help bolster the songs this album. Chris Catero has played in Mary Friedman’s solo band, so you know this guy can deliver the goods. He definitely gets it done on Dark Devotion. Jeremy Graves and Paul Sullivan are no slouches on the guitar either. There are plenty of riffs for you to feast your ears on. I doubt you will be able to listen to Dark Devotion from beginning to end without the desire to head bang, or play the air guitar.
The lead off single “Superpaun” is a heavy rocker that gets in your head. I have been listening to a large variety of bands as of late, and it is the riff from “Superpaun” that keeps sticking with me. As good as “Superpaun” is, it isn’t the best song on Dark Devotion by any means. There are several good tunes on this CD including “Cold War”, “Never Understand”, “Frozen” and “The Broken”. All of these songs could easily be a single for Razer. I believe you will be hard pressed to find a bad song on this CD.
Overall, Dark Devotion is a very strong debut from a band that we are going to be hearing a lot more about in the years to come. If you missed out on Hard Rock Hideout’s Dark Devotion listening party last Friday (2/19/10) you can still check out some songs from this album at the Razer myspace page. Don’t miss out on this hard rockin’ CD!
Rating: 
Out of 10
Track Listing:
01. Superpaun
02. What I Say
03. Cold War
04. Never Understand
05. Dark Devotion
06. Right Kind Of Evil
07. Fall From Grace
08. Frozen
09. Falling In Line
10. Save The World
11. Cut And Paste
12. The Broken
Razer is:
Chris Powers – Vocals
Jeremy Graves – Guitar
Paul Sullivan – Guitar
Eric Bongiorno – Drums, Backing Vocals
Chris Catero – Bass, Backing Vocals
O.k., my Metal interest is peaked… Razer will be on my “must check out Metal” list.
Stone