More than nine years after their last regular studio release, the living legends and the oldest still active Rock band in the world - founded back in 1961 in the Netherlands beat town The Hague - is back in force with a brand new release called "Tits 'n Ass."

GOLDEN EARRING is a band that has nothing left to prove. Throughout their entire career, they have made stunning records in genres such as the Nederbeat, Psychedelic Rock, Progressive Rock, and now they’re venturing into a more Hard Rock inspired sound. The band had a couple of hit singles such as the classic Hard Rock anthem “Radar Love,” the atmospheric Progressive masterpiece “Twilight Zone,” or the catchy “When the Lady Smiles” with its unforgettable video clip. The band also created a lot of forgotten treasures that I still listen to from time-to-time such as the highly diversified “Eight Miles High,” the weird Psychedelic Rock anthem “She Flies on Strange Wings,” or the soft Progressive Rock epic “Vanilla Queen.” Even though the band did never get a true mainstream success during their career, they are one of those classic bands any fan of Rock music, of any kind, should definitely know. I would almost call them as essential as the amazing RUSH, for example, even though the Dutch never got the same kind of attention. The band definitely does a better job on this record in comparison to the recent outputs from the old heroes like AC/DC, THE ROLLING STONES, or STATUS QUO.

GOLDEN EARRING are old now but they still rock in their sweet sixties. “Tits ‘n Ass” kicks off with two energizing and quite catchy Hard Rock tracks: the solid “Identical” and the even more addicting “Little Time Bomb.” The band still sounds fresh and hungry in songs like “Flowers in the Mud.” The laid down ballad “What Do I Know about Love” shows us another side of the band that still varies a lot. “Dope Runner” is the only more Progressive-oriented track featuring the best drum passages on the entire record and a quite diversified musicianship that make this song a definite highlight among the 14 tracks. The band still cares about actual topics as they prove in “Justin Time,” a cool and laid-down track about the mass media phenomenon around JUSTIN BIEBER. In comparison to other bands that overtly criticize and despise the young Canadian, the wise Dutch Rockers are way more subtle and create some truly interesting lyrics on this one. The track is more diversified than the young Canadian’s entire discography and features hypnotizing Rockabilly rhythms, harmonic retro sounds, and a quite catchy chorus. This song is definitely another highlight on this album. Let’s also mention the groovy “Avenue Of Broken Dreams” that surprises as a quite danceable track that could even come from a band such as FRANZ FERDINAND if it was a little bit faster. The Dutch band still proves that they have an open mind and something left to say; it’s also no surprise that the record just got the highest position in the Dutch album charts for the very first time since “N.E.W.S.” back in 1984.

Of course, this record can’t mess with the band’s golden years and unforgettable albums such as “Seven Tears,” “Moontan” or “Cut.” On the other side, the band has also released weaker records and this one is a solid-to-pretty-good release and far from being a deception. The new record contains no true stinker even though there are some more-or-less engaging fillers such as “Over the Cliff into the Deep Deep Blue” that keep this record from getting an even better rating. A true highlight is missing on this album but, in the end, the band still rolls just as smoothly as the beautiful Cadillac they sing about in this album’s single. It should be said that I certainly won’t throw the keys away as I am grateful for any new release from these legends. 

(Online July 23, 2012)

STAHLMANN is another band from the Neue Deutsche Härte genre that has risen to fame thanks to the international breakthrough of RAMMSTEIN. The terrain for this fruitful success has been prepared by bands such as DIE KRUPPS, OOMPH!, and a little bit later by MEGAHERZ in the nineties; its heritage is now kept alive by bands such as STAHLMANN. After only four years of existence, they're already back with their second full-length record, “Quecksilber,” and I must admit that this band is a mixed sandwich for me.

On the negative side, this band really adds nothing new to the genre. If that wasn’t bad enough, they even overtly copy bits and pieces, almost tone by tone, from their idols. “Quecksilber" is way too short with a ridiculously mere 37 minutes on the regular edition, while the extended edition only features rather redundant remixes and one more exchangeable track. In addition to this, there isn’t much diversity on this short record and the band always plays the same kind of Hard Industrial Rock or Metal with some electronic influences and cold hard German lyrics about the usual topics such as love and hate. Many songs simply sound redundant and exchangeable and can’t keep up with the influences, whom they are clearly trying to idolize. With this kind of record, the band is instead dishonouring a genre and breaks down its desperately needed fresh breath of evolution 17 years after the first successes of RAMMSTEIN.

But there is also a positive side of the band. These guys simply take no prisoners during their live shows and as simple as their tracks might sound, they are highly efficient, energizing and definitely catchy enough to be considered as hit singles if they would be released under the names of OOMPH! or RAMMSTEIN. The band simply has the gift to write highly addicting songs you won’t get out of your mind. Their first record already included some songs that may one day be considered as classics of this band or even the entire genre such as the charismatic singles “Hass mich… lieb mich,” and the cool dark interpretation of the classic Snow White tale called “Stahlwittchen,” or the energizing band hymn “Stahlmann”. On their second output, the band created at least as many unforgettable songs such as the danceable first single “Tanz mit mir” that has taken the genre discos by storm or the heavily OOMPH! orientated “Spring Nicht” that would have been a definite highlight on the latest disappointing record of OOMPH! called “Des Wahnsinns fette Beute”. The calmer and quite cool “Asche” includes another memorable chorus and is only one of many positive songwriting examples on this record.

It’s rather difficult to evaluate this record after all. It’s very traditional, not unique, progressive or innovating by any term. We’ve all heard this kind of music before and the band heavily copies their idols. But while these idols experiment a lot, or release more or less convincing records these days, STAHLMANN stay faithful to their roots and do what they can definitely do best: they write addicting, catchy, and grounded Neue Deutsche Härte anthems that many other bands don’t seem to be able or willing to write anymore these days.

If you like the genre, you should definitely check this band and both of their equally well-done records out. If you are new to the genre, you should rather head for older bands that serve as inspirations for this record. If you happen to dislike the bands I’ve just mentioned above you will probably even hate this quite generic band more and they certainly won’t make you change your mind and make you adore this kind of music.

(Online July 18, 2012)

EISBRECHER is a band of the more and more famous Neue Deutsche Härte genre that combines Industrial Rock or Metal music with Electronic Rock and Pop elements and a solid dose of Gothic music. The music sounds hard but is danceable while the lyrics are in general in German and treat on opposite topics such as love and hate, sex and passion or life and death. Sometimes, a couple of lyrics also invite you to think about current topics from the news or the struggles of our modern society in more or less provocative approaches. Comparable bands are the world-famous RAMMSTEIN as well as the genre’s first bands such as DIE KRUPPS or OOMPH! but one should especially cite MEGAHERZ  where singer Alexander Wesselsky who is better known as Alexx Wesselsky as well as composer and guitar player Jochen Seibert known as Noel Pix have been involved before EISBRECHER got together back in 2003. If you like this kind of music, you should also check out bands such as SUB DUB MICROMACHINE, STAHLMANN or the harder stuff of UNHEILIG. As time went by, EISBRECHER became one of the most famous bands of the genre. The new album hit the German Media Control Charts at position number three and the first single “Verrückt” easily made it into the top 50 of the single charts as well and even got the peak position in the German Alternative Charts. The band also hit the charts in Austria and Switzerland as well.

EISBRECHER principally convinces with very strong live performances as well as a variable and unique singer while the music itself is definitely not yet diversified enough to stand out next to the high amount of other bands of the same genre. This is where the band could still improve and get a true international breakthrough one day. The band proves from time to time that they are easily able to write better tracks than the standard stuff for the gothic clubs. Especially the title track “Die Hölle muss warten” surprises with a highly diverisfied vocal performance, chilling additional female vocals and a decent string section in the catchy chorus with the great lyrics. The calm and epic “Ein Leben lang unsterblich” is also a well done surprise because of its very positive lyrics about enjoying each day of one’s life which is rather rare to find in the genre and a welcome change of attitude. Another standout track is “In meinem Raum” that convinces with calm verses and an energizing and highly addicting chorus that has a lot of single and live potential. The interesting lyrics are about struggles with schizophrenia are courageous and add a special certain something to the track.

Next to these highlights, one can find many songs that are typical for the genre. These tracks are somewhat fast, hard and pumping but always danceable and include a rather simplistic structure. The energizing opener “Tanz mit mir” is a perfect example as well as “Exzess Express”. Both songs talk about love somewhere between passion and sex which is a very common topic for the genre and should please to the old fans of the band.

This release would easily be worth of eight points out of 10 as it’s a very entertaining record with a couple of great and memorable songs as well as a couple of promising experiments. The only reason why I cut off half a point is that the record is definitely too long with 15 tracks. Especially towards the end, there are a couple of fillers that all sound quite alike and not as inspired as the tracks I pointed out for example. A record with 10 to 12 songs would have sounded more addicting but I’m not worried as the band has always improved since their beginnings and I’m already looking forward to the improvements for their next album that might hit the stores in two years.

(Online July 17, 2012)

LINKIN PARK is a band that has evolved from an energizing Nu-Metal artist on their first full length records “Hybrid Theory“ and “Meteora“, including also their courageous collaboration with famous rapper Jay-Z on “Collision Course“, over a softer and more commercially radio-oriented Alternative Rock band on “Minutes To Midnight“ to the Electronic Rock group during “A Thousand Suns”. The band’s experimental progression is an honourable thing as they always followed their artistic sense instead of heading for mainstream success only. While many fans of the early days already disliked the band’s third output, I know quite a lot of fans who truly hated the band’s last release. In my opinion though, it was their most diversified, experimental and mature record. I asked myself how LINKIN PARK would be able to top the philosophical intellectuality, the high amount of surprising sound elements and the mixture of progressive elements and catchy moment that they executed so well on “A Thousand Suns” not even two years following that release.

The only honest answer is that the new record is by far not as good as “A Thousand Suns”. On the other side, the band doesn’t repeat itself and decides not to step back but to build up on the latest release. While I don’t entirely appreciate the direction they take, I might admit that this progression might lead to another and completely new as well as innovating masterpiece in a couple of years. The famous American band kept a lot of Electronic Rock influences from the last record but instead of putting them into a conceptual corsage, they created a more accessible record with many gripping hooks instead of atmospheric interludes, more common lyrical topics instead of conceptual undertones and many of their old trademarks such as fast raps versus emotional screams. The band tries to win back some fans they lost while not abandoning their latest efforts. They try to be trendsetters and visionaries at the same time but especially concerning the second point, they sound somewhat exhausted. “Living Things” actually sounds surprisingly lifeless at some points but next to the shades, there are also lights.

I don’t want to end a review on a bad note and that’s why I want to shoot the negative facts first. This record includes too many ballads that can’t keep up with the great calm but emotionally driven tracks the band has written in the past. Stuff like “In My Remains” sounds like Stadium Rock for female teenies that would also fit to a band like SIMPLE PLAN while the better “Castle Of Glass” sounds like a new interpretation of the band’s own “Breaking The Habit” without the original’s intensity. While “Roads Untravaled” is one more boring ballad, the record also features some potential hit singles for the older fans such as “Lost In The Echo” with its old school raps but it all sounds as if we’ve heard this in a similar but better way some years before. The band also tries out a lot of electronic experiments. While some work very well, other ones fail while they try such as “Skin To Bone” that is so charged with electronics that there is no more space to breathe. I also feel that the band tries to copy MUSE on this one and they simply don’t play on the same level.

As I said before, some experiments still work pretty well, especially the shorter ones. “Lies Greed Misery” features everything I like about the band in only two minutes and a half. The song includes heavy electronic beats, a twisted and distorted guitar sound as well as truly dynamical rap passages and a catchy chorus. The even shorter “Victimized” is one of the best songs with a distorted drum and guitar sound, industrial or even Dark Wave beats, rhythmic raps that meet energizing screams as well as abrupt breaks and strange speech quotations that remind of the last record. “Until It Breaks” is another experiment that needs some time to grow and seems to be composed of three different tracks. The song is a little bit overloaded but includes more details in not even four minutes than other bands include on their entire records. My favourite part comes as a surprise as it is the final passage where guitar player Brad Delson starts to sing. His vocals are surprisingly chilling and beat Mike Shinoda’s standard raps and the usual emotional standard singalongs of Chester Bennington. His part even sounds a little bit like New Age music and makes me think of bands such as ENIGMA, ENYA or ERA. If the band would have spent more time on this kind of ideas, the whole record would have been brilliant and a big step forward for them. I hope they’ll keep this kind of experiments on their minds and come back to it on future records even if the mainstream fan basis might not handle this degree of progressivity.

In the end, “Living Things” is not the band’s best record but also not the worst. It includes a couple of worn out fillers but also many promising experiments that are worth a closer look and several tries. The band still has a lot to say and tries out new paths, which is very positive. After the strong “A Thousand Suns”, the new record may be a little disappointment and it would have rather fit as a step on the latter of evolution between “Minutes To Midnight” and “A Thousand Suns” but it’s still everything but a bad record. Next to the high degree of promising experimental tracks, I must also admit that the band has written one of their catchiest hit singles in a long time with “Burn It Down” which is finally a great track that features the hit lists around the world right now.

(Online July 14, 2012)

RUSH have been around for over four decades now and are still out there to fascinate several generations of Progressive Rock fans with new world tours and charismatic outputs. Many other heroes have gone a long time ago like GENESIS or PINK FLOYD, others have gone through weirdest changes and live from their past status such as KING CRIMSON or YES and a couple of great bands have never gone beyond the status of underground heroes that have more recently influenced Progressive Rock bands but never reached out for a wide spread commercial success such as PENDRAGON or SPOCK'S BEARD. RUSH simply are the kings of Progressive Metal and have not written amazing records throughout their whole career and always tried out new things. One can cite the epic conceptual masterpieces from 1976 as well as the critically acclaimed "Moving Pictures" in 1981 but also more recent stuff like the last output "Snakes & Arrows." The brand new "Clockwork Angels" must not hide behind these records and is another highlight in the band's brilliant discography. I would even go as far to say that it's among my very favourite RUSH outputs right now but of course it hasn't passed the test of time yet.

Even though I really adore this band, I must admit that their earlier works are not always easy to digest. The album structures are generally complex and often mix catchy, commercial and memorable short tracks on one side with rather experimental epics with a focus on instrumental passages on the other side. Many changes of style from Hard Rock beginnings over Progressive experiments to shorter mainstream attempts divide the band's discography into different eras that are not always adored by every fan. The high pitched and somewhat feminine vocals of Geddy Lee have always been charismatic but kept the band from gaining a definite mainstream status and I must admit that I couldn't listen to them all day long.

"Clockwork Angels" is in my opinion the band's most accessible record and I mean this in a good way. The record feels so effortless, honest and powerful that it always outs a smile upon my face. The band perfectly mixes complex structures and diversified fresh song ideas with loads of catchy parts and addicting melodies you won't get out of your mind from the first try on. I immediately fell in love with this record and it hit very quickly. On the other side, each song offers many perfectly arranged details to discover over and over again and the somewhat autobiographic, emotional and philosophical lyrics of this conceptual masterpiece are more than ever worth to be examined a little bit closer. The lovely booklet may help you to take some time and get into the excellent lyrical attempts on this stunning record. I have also to underline that Geddy Lee's vocals on this record are simply amazing. They sound not as strained as they were in the past but surprisingly down to earth, mature and warm without losing their uniqueness. Usually, vocalists get worse as time passes by but with his 58 years, he is at the definite zenith of his career and sounds better than ever to my ears. For all those that have somehow disliked his vocals, you should definitely give this record a spin as they are much easier to approach as they were in the past days. Not only the vocals have improved but also the already excellent musical skills of the band. Add a top notch production to this and you might realize that there's not much left to criticize on this album.

Musically, the short three-minute tracks are as detailed, harmonic and precise as the seven-minute epics. The band varies from amazing calm sounds with space elements, decently soft string passages, chilling acoustic guitar tones, peacefully pumping bass guitar lines and a varied kit of drum techniques in one single perfect song such as "Halo Effect" on one side to one of the heaviest songs ever written by this band with "Headlong Flight," a nostalgic anthem with a wild middle part where every instrument has its time to shine even though the whole things remains coherently connected by a killer chorus that other Progressive Rock bands wouldn't write in their whole career. This album really offers anything you've ever liked about the band. There are highly experimental middle parts in complex masterpieces such as the diversified title track "Clockwork Angels" or the heavier pumping "Seven Cities Of Gold." New things as the circus ambiance in the beginning of the diversified grower "Carnies" can be heard every now and then if you listen this record attentively with your headphones on. There are also many potential hit singles that remind me of intelligent Rock and Pop music from the seventies and eighties as in the airy "The Wreckers" or the very warm "Wish Them Well" that has a melodramatic but also very positive message. These songs sound not nostalgic but so fresh as if they were done by some thirty year old musicians. RUSH are definitely still hungry and have a lot to say. In their whole career, they haven't written a twisted and emotionally driven top notch ballad as strong as the closing "The Garden" that sends shivers down my spine and almost brings me to tears each time I listen to it. Every song is worth to get further descriptions but I will give you the advice to take advantage of the pleasure to discover 12 amazing Progressive Rock pearls on your own as even the shortest track "BU2B2" is way more than just a reprise or an interlude but a very meaningful and profound track in its limited length that perfectly fits to this record and could have been developed to another very own and unique full song.

In the end, RUSH deliver once again another highlight of their career on this intense record that is already on a close run to become my favourite record of the year. Anybody who likes progressive music should call this record his own. It might one day be as essential as a "The Court Of The Crimson King," "Darkside Of The Moon," or "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" and should be seen as a modern classic of Progressive Rock that underlines in the best manners that this genre isn't dead yet at all.

(Online July 9, 2012)