Xe-None – Dancefloration (2011)

Outside of vodka and Anna Kournikova, Russia doesn’t really have much to offer. A chemical wasteland of America-haters isn’t the kind of place I like to spend my energy worrying about. But even a commie-hater like me has to salute the latest effort from Russia’s latest deportation, Xe-None.

It’s even harder for this author to ignore a band when the metal gods pretty much create a new genre to describe the sound. Russian or not, the Nutwork is always open to something new, so I put on my ushanka and prepared myself for some Prisyadki and put the band’s new CD Dancefloration to the test.

Xe-None is formally classified as “dancemetal.” Seriously. The Valenki fits, though, as the group has an eclectic mix of death metal and techno-pop influences. There is really nothing else you could call it. But the question at hand is this: Is it worth the rubles to check this out? The answer is a resounding “DA!”

Metal is no stranger to the dance club scene, but it is usually bands from the industrial genre that get the crowd moving with remixed renditions of their guitar heavy tunes. Xe-None is something entirely different from all that. It’s heavy and brutal, while at the same time being poppy, airy, and catchy as hell.

Dancefloration – the band’s follow up to 2008’s (Rave)olution – consists of ten amazing tracks of guitar-crunching, keyboard pounding bliss. The opening track “Heartcore” teases back and forth between the heaviest the band can possibly sound with an Aqua/ABBA-esque overtone that is borderline indescribable. The album continues at a frenetic pace all the way to the end. It is a unique sound, and a quite admirable release, but it’s not without it’s mis-steps. A few of the tracks – most notably the album closer “Blood Fire Snow” – find the band taking itself a bit too seriously. It is during these tracks that you realize the band really has some talent musically, but it’s just too diverse from the rest of the album to keep your booty shaking.

Outside of those couple of tracks, though, this album is truly a diamond in the rough. It won’t surprise me if this release gets little to no attention in the United States, but if you’re lucky enough to stumble upon it, I highly suggest picking it up. The album is available digitally through Amazon and other online retailers. After all, is there any reason not to try something new every once in a while?

Nyet.

8.5/10

(As a side note, Mr. Lexy Dance has graciously mentioned this blog post on his MySpace page and Live Journal site. I want to, first off, thank him for mentioning our site and, secondly, congratulate him (and his bandmates) on an amazing album. The “anti-Russian” language used in this review was for lead-in and comical purposes only. No offense was meant to the fine people of Russia, their land, or their customs – RR)

MySpace: Link | Wiki: Link | Buy: Amazon