Stripped down to its most basic core, reviewing something is simply answering the question, “What is this?”. Violet Ray answered this for me on the front cover.
Now, “skate rock” can mean two pretty drastically different things. Historically speaking, I attribute the term to bands like JFA, Agent Orange, or Aggression. Early 80s hardcore that either has some surf guitars sprinkled in there, or someone skateboarding on the front cover, or both. The term was also co-opted in the 90s to describe more melodic stuff like No Use For A Name, Strung Out, Lagwagon, etc. While I have an affection for both definitions, I think the latter grouping would be more accurately described as “snowboard rock”.
Violet Ray are not snowboard rock. Every song sounds like the aforementioned 80s influences, with maybe some Night Birds sprinkled in there (who themselves draw from the same sources). It’s all pretty good. The songs are about skateboarding, people who skateboard, and characters from skateboarding films. It’s extremely derivative, but the source material is sick, so whatever.
Even their logo kinda looks like the Battalion of Saints. If I have a complaint, the cover art could use some sprucing up. It looks like the opening credits to a Nickelodeon show, but not a cool one like “Doug”. If you’re going full-on skate rock, put a slightly off-kilter photo of shirtless dude skating a pool on the front, matted onto a repeating wallpaper pattern of the band logo in the background. Otherwise, keep up the good work.
-Zach Akenson
Tracks:
1. Blender Knows 02:52
2. Phillips 66 02:23
3. Master of Disaster 02:51
4. Don’t Jump Off 02:46
5. Street Survival 02:44
6. Brookpark Rd. 02:03
7. All Hail Cardiel 03:00
8. Head Bongo 02:58
9. Skate or Die 03:00
10. Animal Chin 03:26
11. Dogtown 03:41
12. Poor Devils (2025) 03:46