Review: Rid of me - Traveling

Label: The Ghost is clear Records/Knife Hits Records

The hype was real with this one. When you're following the band and the labels on Social Media, than you've probably scrolled over this album's artwork for at least a hundred times in the last couple of months. Months, yeah. Not weeks, months. They started hyping "Traveling" near the end of the summer and kept going 'til this very day. You really got the impression of all the participating parties believing in that record, that they feel like it is something truly special. Honestly, I wasn't hopeful for that album.

I did like last year's "Summer" and its mix of Noise- and Punkrock. Obviously it was very clear early on, that RID OF ME are heading in a different direction with this release. It was in October, when they released the Title Track as some sort of sneak peek. I wasn't blown away and got the feeling that they would move out of my personal "Punk comfort zone". That constant hype on Social Media didn't correspond with my first feelings for "the new" RID OF ME. Still, it was a must to check out this album after all. And what should I say, but, this is a huge grower. "Traveling" is that sort of album that is more than the sum of its parts. It's an oeuvre of an album, an album that doesn't depend on two to three hits, an album that rather sucks you in its own hemisphere.

If you ever wondered why the four-piece is named after P. J. HARVEY's album out of 1993, here's where "Traveling" comes in. Its overall aesthetic and the whole temper justify a comparison big time. I get the feeling, that RID OF ME fulfilled their vision this time, that they always wanted to sound like they do on "Traveling". A huge credit goes to the team from the Gradwell House Studios in New Jersey. Steve Poponi was the one producing the album. He is no big name yet, but was always working with members of the band, producing records from FIGHT AMP or LOW DOSE. It's hard to put in words, what he and his team did right, but the record just sounds fantastic. The production delivers the perfect middle ground between polished and rough around the edges, it's full of atmosphere, it captures the strengths of the band and last not least, it feels like nothing else at the moment.

"Traveling" is that kind of album that could unite fucked up Noise/Punk-listeners like us with the more conservative listeners who were into the Alternative-Rock and Grunge of the 90s. Yeah, RID OF ME definitely moved toward this direction. But as I said, they still stress their edges. More important, they didn't cut their Punk-roots, incorporating fast parts every now and then aswell as ever-present noisy guitars. It's just more sharpened, more controlled this time around. Take the re-recorded songs (four in numbers) as an example! Each and every one of them was leveled up with the new "Traveling"-Make-Up, especially "True (Blue)" took a huge profit. Also, they managed to make a perfect song like "Pit" even better! No sense in dropping any more song titles, cause "Traveling" works best from start to finish as this moody kind of album, that gets better with each spin and grows not just track-wise but as a whole. Though I gotta mention that I really like the album's opener and its closer! Something that impresses me on top of that is the "no bullshit"-mentality of how this album was put together. There's no intro, outro, break, interlude, sample, constrained-epic-closer or silly experiment to be found.. anywhere! It's just pure, it's coherent, song after fucking song. How refreshing is that nowadays?

Before leaving this out completely: Lead singer Itarya is really coming into their own with this record. They proofed lots of talent already in the past, but this is something else. Itarya shines with a versatile voice throughout, though it's not like they steal the spotlight. "Traveling" is pretty balanced in that terms. The whole band upped their game since releasing the "Summer"-EP.

Putting it into a nutshell: RID OF ME more than covinced me with "Traveling", totally blowing my reservations out of the water and turning them into pure fascination, slowly but steady. The hype is real with this one, when it comes to the participating people. Now... now it's really time to get this hype real upon writers and listeners. They would deserve it!

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