Undergrounded Universe

While there's little creative about Undergrounded Universe, the full-length debut effort of Renegade Five, it's a well-crafted album of melodic hard rock with plenty of commercial appeal. It won't impressive many metalheads or alternative rock fans, but those who enjoy radio-friendly hard rock with light aspects of heavy metal should enjoy the album, the first several songs in particular. From a musical standpoint, the quintet from Karlstad, Sweden, draws from a couple different heavy metal styles, namely industrial metal and symphonic metal. The massive guitar riffs of Per Lidén are the driving force behind much of the music on Undergrounded Universe, but more than anyone it's keyboardist Håkan Fredriksson who gives Renegade Five a distinct sound and makes them more than just another commercially oriented hard rock band. Not only does Fredriksson make the sound of Undergrounded Universe much richer than it would otherwise be, he also makes it far more interesting. In some ways, he's the most valuable member of the band. From a vocal standpoint, Per Nylin more than fulfills his duties as frontman. His vocals are surprisingly melodic for a band as heavy as Renegade Five, and his lyrics are likewise surprising in that they often dwell on matters of love and emotion rather than violence or destruction as one might expect. Moreover, he sings in English rather than Swedish and has no accent whatsoever. None of this would matter without good songs, of course, and fortunately there are several of them on Undergrounded Universe. The first five songs are all impressive, especially the lead single, "Shadow," which showcases everything great about Renegade Five: the industrial and symphonic metal touches of Fredriksson, a fierce guitar riff by Lidén, and a wonderfully melodic chorus sung by Nylin. As impressive as the first five songs are, the rest of Undergrounded Universe falls rather flat with lyrics that are too elementary and songs that are too routine to warrant praise.