Jeremiah Kane - Ronin (NoCut)

It’s no secret we love a bit of synthwave here at Sentinel Daily… and when that synthwave comes with the promise of a garnish of heavy metal, well… Pavlov’s Dogs have got nothing on us!

So here we are, clutching a copy of Jeremah Kane’s new album, Ronin… the ‘Kane have primarily been an instrumental force in the past, but on Ronin they delve into vocal waters and – here’s the clincher for Sentinel Daily Readers – they’ve teamed up with Lacrimas Profundere singer Julian Larre for a take on one of the greatest songs ever written. I’m talking, of course, about W.A.S.P.‘s titanic anthem Wild Child…

Of which more later. First, there’s the rest of the album to get through, and that may present a bit of a problem for more normally-aspirated readers; nine of the tracks are instrumental, and all sound like the sort of thing you might hear on the latest game that the annoying kid upstairs insists on playing at four in the morning. Jeremiah Kane’s stock in trade – metal-tinged synthwave with a healthy dollop of Japanese influence on the side, isn’t for everyone, but it does create some rather interesting and inspirational background music for the household chores, let me tell you.

Which leaves the four vocal tracks; Labelmate Sanz weighs in on the best of the quartet, This Night Is Ours, a banging, uplifting album that brings together the aching vocal melodies of prime time Depeche Mode and the clanging electro-punk of someone like Stahlmann. I’m rather taken with it, and I think most of our readers would be too if they approach with an open mind. Elsewhere Dymytry vocalist Alen Ljubic ramps up the drama on the balladic semi-title track Way of The Ronin, a thrilling call to arms that will surely get festival audiences swaying together all over Europe next summer if there’s any justice.

Shinigami Eyes finds the band at their heaviest thanks to some fine death metal vocalisation courtesy of Prexss; here the techno is colder, the axes sharper, the industrial touches more brutal – there’s clearly a future for Jeremiah Kane ploughing this furrow in the future – Five Finger Death Punch look out!

And then there’s that W.A.S.P. cover… If I’m honest I wasn’t keen at all on first contact, ready to consign the track t the slag heap without a second thought, but slowly it wormed it’s way into my affections, and, although I’m pretty sure Blackie Lawless wouldn’t be that keen (wait ’til he sees the royalty cheques – Ed), there’s something to be said for turning an old classic on it’s head, ripping it’s guts out and then staging a complete rebuild… this is the future!

Not our usual fodder, then, but a damn fine slab of enjoyable tuneage all the same – give it a whirl if you like something a bit different every now and then…