Decant the Comte Dumas and let's celebrate another band influenced by Their Rawk Highness (as well as other bands influenced by) QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, this one called WITCHRIDER (2012) from lovely Graz, Austria. The band's new release "Electrical Storm" is a worthy addition to the listenable herd of converts to the QOTSA cause.

'Shadows' bangs off with raw synth surf breaking into clipped fuzz guitar. These guys sound very DEAF RADIO on this tune, a later period QOTSA lite - smooth without edge; cool with me, I dig it all. Daniel Dorninger has a fine voice effortlessly moving from smooth crooner to ragged rawker over this vanilla guitar jam. You gotta loosen up but you gotta care ... 'You Lied' threatens a deep message and deft lyrics then relegates that initiative back to the electric guitar groove. 'Electrical Storm' is a bit of a throwback - with a soul siren singer chick laying it down this almost could be an Armin Van Buuren tecno-rawk cast-off from 2008. ... oo ooo ... 'I am Confused' brings the FOO, well wouldn't you? Nice cut.

He's a mess creator on the escalator, and he's doing just fine...'Mess Creator' chip-chop rocks a tremolo guitar hook and stream of consciousness lyrics posted by a quirky lyrical refrain that is just bloody golden. Daniel goes more Dave Grohl here and the song has an electro-dance undercurrent and I think to meself, self - a little more of this action and the music could lift off proper. The groove does increase about one-half click going forward with the remainder of "Electrical Storm" ... I am home under every sun ... 'Let Go' slinks into snaky grooveland while Daniel cuts organic raw vocals over an electro-tribe stomping beat that kicks me into THE OFFSPRING mode ... did I just say THE OFFSPRING? Dig it ¡! 'Keep Me Out of It' is very "Like Clockwork" era QOTSA, yup ... this crooked song is no lullaby ... I see what you did there ¡! 'It's Crooked' reminds me of 'Spinning in the Daffodils' by another gnarly named band ... 'The Weatherman' is another tune cut from the same cloth aye, yet pulled apart at the seams.

WITCHRIDER and bands like them are always going to be compared to QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE and enlightened later-period FOO FIGHTERS for better or worse; that is the level of appropriation and influence Señor Josh Homme has achieved in the pop-rawk music world. If you listen a bit more to WITCHRIDER you discern other electronic bits and pieces that maybe not so much differentiate the songs as the melodies are a bit recycled, but these bites do add some complementary flavors. The WITCHRIDER lads have some EDM and electro-vibe stripes and as the Yanks say they are 'swinging for the fence' here and putting out a pretty good piece of passionate modern rock.  The production and mix on "Electrical Storm" is excellent and is mastered to 32/44.1kHz. Pucker for the bit depth - you can hear it. Bravo  WITCHRIDER ¡!

I am taking a small break from writing for Ze Metal Temple to get some pressing international issues sorted ... Bussi Baba, Grüß Gott and Dani Bandolier's Spotify list...

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/272H3UBARsuksY3BqU0CzP?si=V5L-1e98SQazRhR02WZ9dg