Rat Champion is a band from Idaho, USA. This is the album that was released this October via the Mishap label, and the edition also includes cassettes. In a nutshell, the album is a collection of alternative rock and metal music, with a bit of shoegaze and grunge and also with amazingly beautiful melodies. In the press release, the band mentions Smashing Pumpkins, but I would also like to compare the music to other bands that came to mind: Deftones (melodic alternative music), Creed (grunge), Pallbearer (metal) and an old rock band called “2:54”, which also has female vocals.
When it comes to the themes of the songs, they are about, for example, a start-over: a beginning of something new without the baggage of all the old missteps; and also, as I guess this from the album’s title, burning everything that wasn’t needed and starting a new era.
Speaking of the songs, they are all different, ranging from melodic alternative rock with bits of metal music to ballads. For example, “CCTV” is a slow ballad song; “Cremation ft. tyrus newell” is a heavy music track that begins with something like a national music folk sample, if I’m right, and the song also has growl vocals. “Flame Princess” is another melodic track with some pop music feel to it and this is one of my favorites; the track has a noisy grunge guitar solo at the end and beautiful melodies. What is more, this track also has a video clip with red flowers, alternative music aesthetics and a black cat. Another track, “Crawl”, is a tune with heavy guitars, which brings the style of the band closer to alternative metal music. And the closing track, “The Sun”, which is also 7 minutes long, has an acoustic guitar and is quite a sentimental and comfortable tune.
All in all, that was indeed a great journey, with so many other interesting bands that came to mind while listening to the album, and I must say that I’m thankful for this listening experience. The melodies are also amazing, and all the music actually accompanies the album cover pretty well: something red, elegant and glorious.
Written by Natalia Es
