A few weeks ago, we ran a rather glowing review of the new Dead By Sunrise CD “Out Of Ashes.” We praised numerous aspects of the disc but neglected to mention the backing band, Julien-K. Apparently the band was founded by two of the guys from Orgy and they’ve been making electronic-oriented music for the last couple of years and released a CD this year called “Death To Analog.” We got a free copy from someone that works for them in some marketing capacity and passed it along to Junior Music Writer Rusty Schooner to get his take. To wit:

“What is this? This is good. I like this. This is, uh, whattaya call this? Isn’t this electronica? Did they stop saying that? It might be called something else. But I like it. It’s not too bad. I don’t know about the singer. The singing is kind of weak. I mean, it’s not really -- it’s not emphatic. It’s not like Blaqk Audio.”

[Ed. Who's Blaqk Audio?]

“Oh, that’s a side project from the guy from AFI. The singer and the guitar player.”

[Ed. Davey Havok and Jade Puget.]

“Yup, that’s them. And that kinda sounds like this, except catchier.”

[Ed. This is catchier?]

“No, no. Blaqk Audio is way catchier. I’d listen to Blaqk Audio. I do listen to Blaqk Audio.”

[Ed. You wouldn't listen to this?]

“Probably not.”

[Ed. You just said you like it.]

“Yeah, it’s not bad. But it’s not good, either. It’s just there. I would listen to this while I was waiting for better music.”

[Ed. Why would you wait for better music? You can turn it off.]

“Oh. OK.”

So, there you have it. This is definitely music, and you can listen to it. We’ve got a few links if you’re interested:

Julien-K MySpace

“Kick the Bass” music video:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA7g54KqiD0

Out Of Ashes, at first glance, seems superfluous – a side project from the voice of Linkin Park in 2009? This particular voice became the sole focus of LP’s musical attack once the inherent repulsiveness of the rap-rock genre became apparent even to its most successful progenitors a few years ago. So Out Of Ashes works from a familiar musical template: simple, crunchy riffs; snappily consistent 4/4 beats; and, of course, that voice.

Chester Bennington has forged a very distinct identity in the world of modern radio rock. While most of Linkin Park’s nu-metal peers take their vocal influences from either the pig-squeak Cannibal Corpse school or that rumbly, mush-mouthed baritone bastardized from Eddie Vedder’s cracked and vulnerable orginal, Bennington, by contrast, seems to have studied Anthrax’s John-Bush-era records. His voice is strong and steady, essentially high but coated in gravel. His greatest gift, though, is his ability to carry a strong melody; that is what sets any given Linkin Park anthem aside from the rest of the slop it’s smuggled between on radio playlists.

Out Of Ashes is bracingly melodic from start-to-finish; it begins with the relatively bright one-two punch of “Fire” and “Crawl Back In,” Both tracks lyrically address Bennington’s by-now-infamous self esteem issues, but they do it in the context of major key stadium rock. It’s a refreshing switch from the uniformly downbeat output of his other band, and one that figures prominently in Out Of Ashes overall success – every time a lowly angst-nugget like “Let Down” clogs the record’s flow, a stomper like “Condemned” is right around the corner to blast the proceedings back into high gear.

Bennington doesn’t do anything new on Out Of Ashes. The closest he comes to subverting the establish Linkin Park formula is the Phil Collins beat and moderate synth squiggles of “Let Down” or lightweight power-ballad “Give Me Your Name” (complete with Slash-esque, edge-of-the-cliff guitar solo). Elsewhere it’s business as usual, which means that people who love Bennington from his day job will flock in droves to hear this pleasant variation. It may not be groundbreaking, but if you come here looking for fresh musical ideas, you kind of deserve the disappoint. Out Of Ashes is a machine-tooled musical thrill ride, and the thrill comes from the factory precision with which these ingredients are scientifically combined. The outcome of the experiment is never in question, but that’s why this stuff sells.

That’s also why it works.

Choice Jams:
“Crawl Back In”
“Inside Of Me”
“My Suffering”
“Condemned”
“Walking In Circles“