Tokyo Rose - The Chase: Last Run

(NRW 2017)

Not long ago, I read a review of this album that said it "would've been a fresh and exciting release in 2013" but "feels flat and tired in the final days of 2017." What a strange complaint for a genre that wants to sound like it is still 1985! I do agree with the "feels flat and tired" bit, though. This is a monotonous, dreary release.



I will note that The Chase: Last Run is competently made. Everything is mixed well, and though it's a bit overcompressed, it isn't overly loud. On paper, then, it's solid. And there are a couple cool tracks, like "All Night," which features LeBrock on hair metal vocals and Ultraboss with some '80s-tastic shred guitar. For the most part, though, all the tracks bleed together. 

Here's the thing about outrun, though: it can be thrilling music, even when simple and formulaic. Only, since it doesn't have many parts, they all need to be perfect. And if the aesthetic is "cars go fast at night," you need to feel the speediness. Unfortunately, most of the songs on The Chase: Last Run are weirdly lethargic. Take the track "Need for Speed." Besides the painfully cliche title, it also fails to evoke the feeling of going fast. Instead it putters along at the speed limit. Does that sound exciting to you? Somehow I doubt it. After all, no one ever said "I want music that describes my evening commute home."

At the end of the day, I don't think The Chase: Last Run sounds like it is still 2013, because synthwave in 2013 was exciting. This is outrun by the numbers.

Score: 4.5