Review Summary: A generally, surprisingly good album that no one will listen to.
After reviewing Ra’s newest album, Black Sun, I discovered that Ra released yet another album a short year later. Black Sheep isn’t your typical album, and hence (yes, I said hence) will be carefully reviewed. This album is a collection of B-sides and rarities that encompass the years 1998-2009. Most of the songs are Nu-metal, so if you can’t stand that genre anyway, you might as well back out now. There are a lot of tracks so I’ll try to keep this short. If you consider four paragraphs short. Anyway, RA - BLACK SHEEP REVIEW INITIATED!
Slowly building up with an Egyptian intro, ‘Cross of Snow’ starts the album with a bang. With the typical middle-eastern elements, loud guitars, ambitious singing, mild experimentation, and guitar solo, this is the perfect starting song. Another excellent song is found in, ‘Crazy Little Voices’, an angst-ridden song similar to Ra’s hit single ‘Do You Call My Name’. Obviously, not all songs will be on this level, so we’ll just have to take what we can get. Other highlight tracks include: ‘Seen All Good People’; an excellently done Yes cover; ‘U Need Me’, a creepy Nu-metal song that would fit perfectly on Ra’s debut album; Baghdad, an upbeat classic-metal styled song, and finally ‘Supernova’. ‘Supernova’ is the most notable song on the album as it is Ra’s newest single.
After listening to ‘Supernova’, you’ll probably be thinking, “Why the *** didn’t they write this song for an actual album?” That question will haunt you with every song you hear until the end of the album. Of course, Ra does have it’s reasons; for instance, ‘What I Am’, and ‘U Need Me’ were too dark for Ra’s second album, Duality. Still, some of these songs could have been perfect for a future Ra record, and it’s a shame that they couldn’t wait to release them. The only rarity that they’ve released onto a normal album was the song ‘Genocide’ which was kicking around www.rafans.net forever. This doesn’t mean Ra ignores their fans, in fact, this is the perfect fan album. Looking back at this album, I’m surprised that more bands don’t make albums like this, ‘cause their fans would eat them up.
‘Black Sheep’ shows off “how a band struggles with identity until it finds itself” – Sahaj Ticotin, and it also shows potential. If Ra could unleash all of their potential into their next album, it might turn some heads. Their were some good ideas on this record, and it would be lame to see them wasted. However, with no company to vouch for them, no record deal, and almost nobody that knows they even exist, Ra will have to make it on their own as the underrated band that they have always been.
