Band: FUDGE
Country: Germany
Title: Dust to Come
Label: FastBall Music
Year: 2020
Style: Industrial Melodic Groove Metal

Review:
It was finally the time for the 2012 formed Fudge (or as they write it =fudge=) to release their debut album, and seeing how many people were involved in it and how much effort they spent "decorating" it, it actually makes sense, this debut album is like the long-awaited baby for a middle-aged couple, so I'll have to carefully choose my words here as they for sure are very proud of their achievement. The band released a 5 tracks EP in 2014 and a single three years later, but that cannot be considered a steady activity so far, maybe they were more active on the live side of things. Since 2018 they've become a full line-up band and I'm pretty sure they were more than ready to present this album live as well, but Covid messed up all bands' plans at least for 2020, and I'm also sure it was a struggle releasing it without being able to predict when they'll be able to present it live, too. I think this is the first time I see an album accompanied by a comic-book (28 pages, a bit bigger than A5, don't know what's the exact size) in close relationship; the comic book is called The Summoning and is a horror story in color and black/white illustration, plus a 2 pages story, all involving the band members, too. Apparently there's also an old-school video-game released by the band but available only in Western Germany (wtf, are we still in the Cold War era?). Getting to the music on this album, the label names Fudge as "the pioneers of synth metal" yet I don't see Synth Metal as the core on this album, it sounds actually like a combination of Industrial Metal, Groove Metal, Melodic Metal and Alternative Metal and at times it actually sounds like a Rock version (so a lighter sounding version) of Crematory, but synths play a similar role in the overall mechanism of Dusto to Come like the guitars or the rhythm section do, not a central point of it, maybe except for the last track of the album, the bonus track Bittersweet Revenge, which is a clear example of Synth (Heavy) Metal. Anyway, it's pretty clear there's plenty to taste on this album, it's a story (or more) in itself, there are plenty of turns and corners to discover, it's pretty catchy and even though there's that abrasive Industrial side to it, especially to the vocals that are far from melodic, it accessible to a wide audience. As a nice touch I'd also like to mention the 12th track, Dust to Come II, which is actually a narrated story in it's first part, then a computer-generated voiced thanks list, something I haven't heard before on an album, but something that makes so much sense and seems so simple I don't know why other bands aren't doing it, too. Interesting to see how this band will move once live playing restrictions are lifted, we might see the rise of a serious monster here.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 8/10

Contact:
fudge-official.com
fastball-music.com