Humour and Social Criticism Collide with Heavy and Thrash Metal - A Review of Tankard's Pavlov's Dawgs

Tankard has been around for forty years now and the legendary German thrash metal quartet has just released its nineteenth studio album to celebrate its epic anniversary in style. As if that alone weren't enough, this year has also already seen the release of boxed set For a Thousand Beers by former aggressively capitalistic label Noise Records and an interesting compilation called Alcoholic Metal 40 Years in Thrash - Extended Version that comes for free with excellent German metal magazine Legacy.

Pavlov's Dogs simply stated offers more of the same the band is already known for which makes for a good average output that can neither compete with the band's greatest hour nor disappoint as much as the group's weakest efforts.

The musicianship is still vibrant, organic and hungry and the tight, natural and dynamic production blends in splendidly. The drums sound steady, playful and energetic. The domineering bass guitar sounds rich and heavy. The sharp guitar play convinces in the sinister rhythm department just as much as in the rapid solos bombarding this effort. The vocals might not be the most memorable ones in the genre but manage to deliver an appropriately gritty performance.

The most outstanding thing about Tankard is that fast, heavy and thunderous musicianship with an aggressive, galloping and relentless vibe meets humorous lyrics that try at times a little bit too hard to be on the pulse of time. Examples for this phenomenon are the slightly cringe-inducing ''Ex-Fluencer'' or the pandemic anthem nobody needed with ''Lockdown Forever''.

The band convinces most when it reduces its humouristic elements in favour of boundless traditional thrash metal and a few slightly progressive songwriting experiments. Highlights on this album are the appropriately sinister ''Diary of a Nihilist'', the playful epic with a healthy dose of commercial criticism ''Metal Cash Machine'' and the retrospective, resilient and reminiscing closer ''On the Day I Die''.

At the end of the day, Pavlov's Dawgs should please Tankard fans of old date with its balanced mixture of relentless thrash metal and at times humorous elements in cover artwork and obviously the lyrics. While the album has decent flow and doesn't include any obvious stinkers, many songs rush by without leaving a deeper impression and none of the new tunes has the potential to become a future classic. These are the reasons why Tankard's Pavlov's Dawgs is only recommended to adamant collectors and faithful fans of old date while occasional fans of the band or the genre can skip this output without any regrets.

Final rating: 65%