aaamusic | On 08, May 2014

Like many young teens naming their first band, so-called ‘supergroup’ REABO have decided that an acronym using the first letter of each of their names is a great idea (they could’ve gone with O, Bear). Redneck, Eddy, Arya, Beaupierre and Ol aren’t teenagers, though, they are established musicians from very different backgrounds. I think it’s a bit lame, but I guess that’s a personal thing and it doesn’t really affect the music, so I’ll just move along…

The group was put together by Jägermeister and left in the studio for 12 hours, emerging with ‘Whatever May Come’. REABO have been very creative in their approach, equally fusing their usual genres. However, this hasn’t really worked. Dubstep artist Redneck and female Grime MC Beaupierre could’ve handled this on their own. XFM presenter Eddy TM, Ex-Evile guitarist Ol, and Skindred drummer Arya don’t really make much of an audible impact on this track – the guitar blends in with all of the dubstep, as does the bass, and the drums could easily be programmed samples.

Tribal-sounding drums and empowering lyrics kick off ‘Whatever May Come’, creating a very tense atmosphere and the feeling that something very important is being discussed (rapped about). The song sounds like it’s making a statement, but it is simply talking about the experience of being put in the studio with a bunch of strangers. I can picture the chorus sections going down really well at clubs, with strong bass, powerful drums and shout-along lyrics creating a strong clubbing vibe.

Unfortunately, the only real stand-out bits of ‘Whatever May Come’ are the first 60 and final 30 seconds. The rest of the track just sounds like slightly above-average dubstep with some rapping over it. Not bad for 12 hours work, though. Hopefully if we will hear more from REABO they’ll’ve had longer than that to write and record a song. Check out the video for ‘Whatever May Come’ below.

★★★★★

Jake Parker