HEINO is a traditional German pop singer born back in 1938 who has been known for hits such as “Was träumen Matrosen” (1967), “Mohikana Shalali” (1971), “Blau blüht der Enzian” (1972), “La Montanara (Das Lied der Berge)” (1973) and “Die schwarze Barbara” (1975). Twenty-four years after his last charted single and seven years after his last and not very popular album, the old man is back and he immediately hit the peak position of the German album charts – for a first time in his long career.

You might now ask why this old pop singer is relevant for a metal website. In fact, I would have never thought of listening to any HEINO album in my entire life. Let me explain you how all of this happened. HEINO has always been an artist that divided the masses. Many old people still adore him while he incarnates a very old fashioned image for younger generations. Many artists and bands made fun of him in the past and this record that is subtitled “the forbidden album” can be seen as some sort of humorous revenge. HEINO covers twelve more or less actual pop and rock songs from the eighties up until now and even adds two bonus songs to some versions of this release. This album led to many passionate discussions. Many of the covered bands accepted the new versions while others expressed their disagreement and said that Heino would treat their material in a disrespectful way. The artist himself described these songs as modern folk pop songs and compared them to his earliest material. The media attention made this release peak in Germany and it also went at number six in Austria as well as at number seven in Switzerland. Among the covered bands, one can find popular Neue Deutsche Härte bands such as OOMPH! and RAMMSTEIN but also punk bands like DIE ÄRZTE, rap artists like CLUESO, PETER FOX and DIE FANTASTISCHEN VIER and older and younger pop bands from NENA to SPORTFREUNDE STILLER.

The dark vocals and the rhythm orientated big band or brass sounds make each song sound as if it was an original track done by HEINO himself which is very funny and entertaining. The new versions differ a lot from the original. Sometimes, the concept works very well. “Leuchtturm” sounds much better and quite emotional with HEINO’s charismatic and longing vocals and easily beats the somewhat cheesy original. The punk song “Junge” that tells the story of a rebellious kid that has some troubles with his old fashioned parents from the point of view of the latter ones, gets incredibly ironical when it gets interpreted by HEINO who exactly represents this part of the German society. When he complains about the behavior, the clothes and the music of the teenager in the song, you can’t help but have a big smile on your face. The track has a vivid brass section and the strong vocals add a great touch to the song and I hugely prefer this version to the uninspired original. When HEINO starts to perform “Sonne”, one realizes that his dark vocals and his expressions are in fact surprisingly close to the original by RAMMSTEIN and that’s why this song is one of those that remain rather close to the initial version. Even fans of Germany’s most popular band might try this song out and could eventually happen to like it.

Even though there happens to be some repetition on this record after a while, the initial idea is amusing and the record is definitely entertaining. The vocals of the seventy-four years old man sound still strong and the instrumental work is also very well executed. Soon, the artist is going to play a few rock and metal festivals which was an idea he initially refused. Maybe this will help in the two senses. HEINO might learn that young people and their music are not as bad as he thinks and metal fans might realize that HEINO is at least a very gifted singer and has some sense of humour. After the cover record by CALLEJON that came out earlier this year, this is already the second incredible cover album of the young year 2013. This thing will surely continue to get some airplay in the radios and at different parties of all kinds of generations in the next weeks and months to come. Open up your mind, join in and try this incredible album out now.

(Online March 12, 2013)

SABAZIUS is a British Drone and Doom Metal band hailing from Brighton and London that released a quite special song these days. The band has always been known for a few longer tracks somewhere between fifteen and seventy-five minutes of running time but this time, the duo went even further.

 Their new track is entitled “The Descent Of Man” and has a stunning running time of eleven hours, sixteen minutes and fifty-four seconds. The two members recorded for fourteen hours straight. They even had the intention to go for a full twenty-four hours but they felt they had done what they had to a few hours before. As this song is way too long for a usual disc, the whole thing will come on a USB stick with a size of exactly 6,66 GB. The two musicians probably only edited this track by a few hours to obtain this evil and stereotypical number.

All of this sounds very funny and original and the band surely didn’t take their work all too seriously and had loads of fun in the studio. Nevertheless, the final result is nothing but depressive and noisy anti-music without any major changes through the whole track. The music gets quickly annoying, boring and may cause severe headaches after only a few minutes. Imagine how hard it is to make it through the entire song. The pace is very slow and heavy and one only hears distorted guitar sounds and minimal bass tones. After something like six hours, a drum kit comes into play from time to time that sounds very tinny and turns out to be as hard to digest as the other instruments. The massive use of cymbals and hi-hats makes the whole thing even more annoying. After about six hours and once again around eight hours of running time, the song develops something one could call a few coherent rhythms but they quickly get repetitive as well and fail to add some pace or surprises to this epic piece of weirdness.

The band gives the advice to get ready for a journey deep into our psyches while listening to this song. If it is some kind of journey, it’s nothing more than a journey to boring negativism that might inspire you dumb feelings in your head or suicidal ideas. This track is obviously just a joke and a complete waste of time. That’s probably why this experiment will soon get a cult status and will be checked out by many metal fans all around the world but this doesn’t make the song any better. If the same thing had been done by some gifted musicians, it would have been interesting enough to get a few points but as it is, I can’t give another rating than the worst one. This is the most annoying thing I have ever heard and I guess that’s exactly what the band intended and what many other people will feel like. This is completely senseless in any term of the expression.

Just avoid this at all costs.

(Online March 9, 2013)

“In Love Dying” is the sixth out of nine singles of the outtake sessions for the last studio record “I’m With You”. Some of the singles happened to sound better than many songs on the original album but other tracks were only filler material. This new song seemed to be quite interesting and I couldn’t wait to listen to it. Instead of two short tracks, the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS decided to put an eight minute long epic on this release and the band had shown in the past that they are able to write great long tracks such as the weird Funk Rock experiment “Sir Psycho Sexy”, the psychedelic and aggressive “One Hot Minute” or the dreamy Rock ballad “Venice Queen” to only name a few.

This new track is though is a psychedelic Progressive Rock track with a few vintage influences. The song includes a few interesting grooves. The drum play is vivid and quiet entertaining as the track progresses. The bass guitar is not as strong as usual but you can still here Flea’s classic and funky playing style. The guitar sounds are rather dreamy and transcending but they sound a little bit too depressive in my opinion. That’s why this song is rather hard to digest and miles away from the more vivid stuff of the band.  The track is definitely unique and shows the band hailing for new shores.

The problem I have with this song is that it sounds a little bit too minimalist to me. The vocals are repetitive and unimpressive or even annoying at a certain point. The guitar work is too depressive in my opinion and lacks of dynamics. The bass guitar is not used as it could have been with a gifted player like Flea. Only the drums do a solid job and lead to a convincing finish. Nevertheless, this song happens to be too long and turn out to be quite boring. I’m missing true imagination and warmth in here. I guess this is one of those songs you either dig or not and I don’t despite the potential in this.

Progressive and Psychedelic Rock fans should give this new single a few spins, even if they are not familiar with the band. Anybody else should try this out with prudence. On a personal level, I’m a little bit disappointed by this track and hope the band gets back to form with its next single release that might come around in May.

That being said, the band is already working on new material and might go to record some of the new stuff in the studio this summer. This Californian band simply never gets old and I will definitely continue to follow their way. 

(Online March 7, 2013)