:CD Review: Resando – Secrets

Resando – Secrets
Released:  January 24, 2011
Label: Copro Records/Casket Music
Website: resando.com

Review By: William Dashiell Hammett

Founded in 2006 in Italy and now based in London, the Electro-Rock outfit Resando has released their debut full-length album on Copro Records/Casket Music.  While you can definitely hear the acknowledged influences of Nine Inch Nails and Depeche Mode, there is a bit of an edge that is distinctive and original.

Opening with the song “Change”, the album starts with building synth sample before a heavily effected vocal comes in accompanied by a distorted percussion track.  The song continues to build towards the first chorus, adding a much cleaner standard drum track before a nice gritty guitar riff comes in.  The song continues to expand and grow with interesting cross beats and samples.  The vocals also evolve becoming cleaner and more decidedly aggressive.

“The End” begins with a much more upbeat tempo and synthline.  A vocoder vocal track intros the song before a more conventional lyric comes in and repeats.  The vocal track is less aggressive than on the previous track and the drum line is more standard and not as forceful.  The song expands when the chorus comes in and a wave of sound envelops you.  Some very nice effects work on the vocal track adding dimensions to what could have easily become a limp lyric.

Next up, “Still Alive” starts with a soft synth sound and vocal before a heavy sound takes the song over.  The vocals project longing and are much less aggressive than in previous tracks.  The chorus enlivens the song with an expansive expression of sound.  “Snake” again starts quietly with a soft synth sound and unlike earlier songs that build to a more robustness, “Snake” keeps quiet.  Interesting panning effects and clever arrangement keep this song from becoming too much of a ballad.

The album’s first single, “Secret”, comes next and instantly one can tell why this song was chosen.  The up tempo track is easily most powerful song on the album, interesting effects and sounds accent the arrangements and vocals.  The coarse guitar line during the chorus is excellently used and the bass line really helps carry this song.  The break in this song is creative and the sounds are crisp.

The next track on the album, “Evil”, starts out at a much more sedate pace.  This pace continues throughout the song, nicely accented by gritty guitar lines and samples and a very deliberate vocal style.  “Demon” continues the slow pace established in “Evil”.  Starting with some interesting sounds the song evolves to be another almost ballad like track, while changing enough to keep the listeners interest.

“Purple Sky” comes next and, after starting out with a slow synth sound and sample, picks the album up again with a high-energy tempo and forceful vocals.  The percussion coupled with the guitar and appealing synth line move this track and create a powerful song.  If not for it being under the mandated 3 minutes required for radio play, “Purple Sky” could easily have been the single for this album.

Finally, the album wraps up with the ballad “With You”.  Strophic and repetitive, the track uses some interesting harmonisation and, after sufficient building up, a main melody played on a piano to create what can only be described as a love song.

For the most part, Secrets bleeds potential.  The musicianship is exceptional, the production spotless and the vocals well done and never lacking in depth.  However, there is a feeling pervading the album that there is much more that could be there.  It seems that Resando didn’t attempt to push things to the next level—a level easily attainable from the craftsmanship on display—and chose to rather “play it safe” with a series of songs that would please but not overwhelm.  For a debut album, Secrets far exceeded its mission and has this reviewer eagerly awaiting for Resando’s sophomore effort.