Rusty Pacemaker – Blackness and White Light

Rusty Pacemaker (not his real name you’ll be surprised to hear) comes from Austria. He written all of the songs on this CD and played the majority of the instruments. The CD seems to have been a real labour of love with the opening track, Cell, originally being penned in 2003.

What comes out throughout the CD is the quality of the song writing with each track being well constructed. The CD is really well produced and features a wide variety of sounds ranging from the standard heavy rock guitars to the gentle sound of the xylophone on the title track. Add to this the rain effect and the bird sounds and you have one interesting collect of songs that drag you through the dark world of Rusty Pacemaker.

If there is a weak point it is Rusty’s vocals for me, they don’t quite hit the standard of the rest of the CD. I would have liked to have heard more of female vocalist Lady K who is featured on Amok and Mother.
This is no album of catchy fist waving songs, to be honest the CD does take a bit of getting into, and it’s very different to what I normally listen to. I’ve been playing it in the car for the best part of six weeks before writing this, but it is well worth the effort as the CD is really is a grower so if you get a copy of it be prepared to invest some time getting in to the songs because it really is worth it.
You can find out more on this interesting project and have listen to some of the tracks at the Rusty Pacemaker web site.
NH