Plenty for glam bangers to enjoy.

Hailing from the French Riviera, Rakel Traxx are hoping to make a splash (Splash, riviera - get it? Oh, please yourselves) in the more pure end of the glam and sleaze market, replete with daft names, plenty of lippy and some cool melodies. The world will not be changed, that’s for sure, but they might well bring a bit more fun into it, which is never a bad thing.

I have to admit that Rakel Traxx have forced me to go to my default reference when dealing with sleazy glam stuff and that is Vain. This is because Davy Tightpants and his crew laid down one of the best albums (for me, anyway) of this type with ’No Respect’ back in the dark ages. Rakel Traxx don’t ape Crüe or Guns N’ Roses, they definitely veer towards Vain’s side of the street, punching out high octane tracks full of melody with barely enough room to breathe. There’s nothing too serious going on, as track titles ‘Prostitute’s Night’, ‘Girlz’ and ‘Fuck You’ should illustrate, but that doesn’t matter, as this sort of music is all about having sleazy fun and Rakel Traxx certainly do that.

I wasn’t really expecting to like ‘Bitches Palace’ very much, as I get a lot of substandard glam slung my way, so it was a nice surprise that it’s a pretty solid if perhaps unremarkable album. It exudes memories of the Sunset Strip and boys with big hair and the songs are uniformly tight. There’s absolutely nothing wrong here, but whilst it’s thoroughly enjoyable it just falls a little short of greatness.

Regardless, there’s plenty for glam bangers to enjoy and Rakel Traxx may well emerge as contenders for the glam throne in years to come.

Alan Holloway