"Dirt Collector" by The Raygun Girls

WARNING! This CD is not for the timid, and definitely not for folks who get "pysched" to go to a New Kids on the Block reunion show, but it is recommended for fans of Lacuna Coil and Evanescence.

The Raygun Girls is a female fronted Alternative Hard Rock group from New York heavily influenced by Gothic, Industrial, Punk and Metal music. After securing a record deal with KillZone Records, as well as a new lead vocalist (Cila), The Raygun Girls headed into the studio and the result is "Dirt Collector", where the guitars are crunchier, the vocals are more powerful, and the songwriting is tighter than any of their previous recordings, which includes, "The Ones I Denied", an album recorded with members of The Clay People.

I started listening to "Dirt Collector" and immediately thought to myself, if you're going to open your CD with an audio clip of Christopher Walken threatening to stick a soldering iron in your face, you'd better be able to back up that intensity throughout the CD. The Raygun Girls do just that on "Dirt Collector".

With good songwriting and musicianship, The Raygun Girls have put together 12 strong songs, and are able to use all the members' talents to their advantage throughout the CD. The band didn't go for one or two "singles". All the songs on the CD flow effortlessly from one to another and it gives the listener the feeling that all the songs belong on the same CD, and weren't written with the intention of having any songs that stand above the others, they all stand together as part of an entire recording.

Doc's intensity on drums, George holding down the low end on bass and contributing on backing vocals, and Geoff on crunchy and thick guitar sounds throughout the CD, backing vocals, and programming help lay down a thick wall of sound for Cila to showcase her voice. She is complemented throughout the CD by the vocals, and growls, of George and Geoff who take over when the music is not suited to Cila's melodic voice, and it takes some musical maturity to know that certain voices are not going to fit in certain places.

After listening to "Dirt Collector", I picture The Raygun Girls live show going something like this:
1) A pause between every two songs for Doc to replace his drum heads from beating them with pure rock angst.
2) All the lights going out in the venue due to, what sounds like on the CD, a wall of Marshall guitar amplifiers (all turned up to 11 of course).
3) George needing a steady intake of Red Bull to continually pound on the bass at the songs' tempos (not slow) throughout the performance.
4) Cila wanting to perform longer since singing sounds like an effortless task for her.

"Dirt Collector" is a really good CD as far as standard rock goes, but there is so much more here than "standard rock" that it's worth checking out, especially if you're a fan of Lacuna Coil and Evanescence.

"Dirt Collector" is scheduled for release during the summer of 2009, and if you want to pick up a copy, or learn more about The Raygun Girls, swing by: http://www.raygungirls.com/ or www.myspace.com/theraygungirls