Artist: Rasputina

Album: “Oh Perilous World”

Release date: June 26

Label: Filthy Bonnet

Availability: CD, iTunes, Ruckus

“Oh Perilous World” was inspired by current events – it’s a reaction to all the perils of our modern world, inspired by frontress Melora Creager’s Internet news addiction. The juxtaposition of modern themes and Rasputina’s cello-based sound begins a dance than flits through the record.

Most of the songs on the record apply a folk style to a modern subject, with Creager’s vocals calling out lines in a voice that can’t quite seem to hit most of the notes, instead choosing to slide around them. The opener, “1816, The Year Without a Summer,” is a straightforward but interesting historical piece, and a few tracks, such as the hair metal-esque “Draconian Crackdown,” almost have to be heard to be believed.

The imagery of the songs ranges from the grandiose, calling up grand armies and zeppelins in “Child Soldier Rebellion,” to the more prosaic grittiness of “In Old Yellowcake.” The grand concepts of allegiances, diplomacy and the like reach their chorally backed peak in “A Retinue of Moons/The Infidel In Me.” Occasionally, however, Creager breaks her own spell by lapsing into literal language when she ought to be maintaining the illusion.

The string-driven record is an interesting tour through a blend of Victorian and modern peril. The only bands that really sound much like this are the much harder cello group Apocalyptica and the Bohemian-inspired band Sophe Lux. It’s fairly soft and light, but worth a spin even to a metal fan.