Artist: Eisbrecher
Title: Schicksalmelodien
Genre: Metal / Rock
Release date: 23rd October 2020
Label: RCA Deutschland
Album Review
If fire could turn into sounds then definitely EISBRECHER would be the first in line to represent it. Cause, alas, ladies and gentlemen the new album the Ice-boys have to offer is a real hot stuff. Perfectly prepared, offering a carefully selected choice of covers to keep you warm this autumn, it will make your blood boil. And, if you’re accidentally bored, you may always compare how the originals go against the EISBRECHER version. That’s what I did, and let me say, it gave lots of fun to actually go through the old-is-gold setlist EISBRECHER decided to re-do in their own manner. Let me just say all the tracks get EISBRECHER charisma, power and they are totally fantastic!
One may say there is no point of comparing the originals and EISBRECHER’s version - it’s clear the latter have their own style and add it to the covers. The album - at least for me - was a cool fun to set the two together and by the way delve a bit into a slightly rusty and forgotten music areas - and to learn some history too. Very enlightening, actually. What EISBRECHER are like - we all know - Metal power, energy, blast, raging guitars perfection and cool. And that’s what you get on the album. All the rest is your research and good fun. I trust EISBRECHER’s good taste and intellectual game they invite us to take part in.
The album announced by two live videos - ‘Stossgebet’ (cover of POWERWOLF) and ‘Skandal im Sperrbezirk’ (cover by SPIDER MURPHY GANG) gives a totally fresh, yet very characteristic EISBRECHER vibe to the selected songs. Sometimes it sounds like resurrecting the dead and making it dance, but so well so good. It’s not that much in case of SPIDER MURPHY but if you look at the next song - ‘Anna Lassmichrein Lassmichraus’ - a bit cheesy song by TRIO and definitely an old school dadada song you see in EISBRECHER interpretation it gets the Metal power. ‘Scandal…’ in original is more into Punk, very gentle though - well EISBRECHER take no prisoners here. ‘Disco in Moskau’ by the total classics of Punk - DIE TOTEN HOSEN, which even in original still has power and energy, in EISBRECHER version is still more ravishing and overwhelming.
‘Out of the Dark’ covering master FALCO is a total change of tone - in original it was a poetic melo-recitation ballad that EISBRECHER took into the grind and gave Metal hit in return. How to turn profound and melancholic song into a metal energy machine? Give it to EISBRECHER. There is nothing of romantic in it left. POWERWOLF, the band who base on Romanian beliefs and legends (hence Latin is quite understood in their case), well, their version is definitely much of an ironic and distance, no surprise EISBRECHER would feel the vibe with them. Less the harmonica and religious motives (apart from Alexx playing a modern priest in their video). ‘All we are’ from the album Triumph and Agony by WARLOCK features strong female vocals and it’s really funny to see the vocals of Doro juxtaposed to Alex. It’s a male-female clash. Who won the battle? You choose, I think the battle was part of the game scheduled for fans, play it.
‘Goldener Reiter’ (covering JOACHIM WITT), a song about mental asylum a rise and fall - a Rock thingy in original is even more dynamic when taken a new turn. It’s notable EISBRECHER decided to cover ‘Freiflug’ by MEGAHERZ, the first band for Alexx Wesselsky was the frontman of - the song comes from the fourth single by German Metal band, and the third and final single from their album ‘Kopfschuss’. The video for ‘Freiflug’ presented Alexx tied up in a rope and hung over a fire, and then the rats chew through the ropes supporting him and he falls. Well, dark and gloomy original gets depth and, perhaps, unintentionally, new meaning and dramatical tint when interpreted by EISBRECHER.
‘Bitte Bitte’ - another Punk Rock legend cover DIE ARTZE. Well, I’m old enough to be reading about them in Bravo, about their music, quarrels and what not, but to the music - electronic version of DIE ÄRZTE was actually kept quite naturally, just a stronger punch was added to it and the vocal, of course, is stronger. Next in line - Fabio Frittelli’s MO-DO Eurodance Metal super cover of Hans Albers’, the co-star of Blue Angel (whose hit is from 1932!) or Rio Reiser, who was a poet, rebel and Rock star who was a cult figure of leftist resistance. His band TON STEINE SCHERBEN was the first German Rock band to openly criticize the system with German lyrics, providing the soundtrack to the student revolts of the late 1960s and the left-wing anarchist scene up into the early 1980s. EISBRECHER also chose NDW stars RHEINGOLD and ASP to get covers for.
The album closes with ‘Schicksal’ - that can be translated into “fate” or “destiny” - it’s a beautiful piano track, that will make you think - OK, you had fun, did you pay attention? To the life-lines of the artists, to our life-line? To yours? Music tells the story and even though we vent our energy to it, we scream, we laugh, it’s often worth paying attention to what’s behind a beautiful or smashing song. So there you go, you get a fantastic album - very well prepared, rich in metal power, giving you all you could desire in terms of raging guitars, fantastic vocal and overall energy - it’s like an open invitation to do a little digging into music history, it’s a joke, an eye wink sent over to you, a spark from a brilliant, humorous minds of the authors and lots of fantastic music on it - have fun and enjoy!
Tracklist
01. Skandal im Sperrbezirk (Spider Murphy Gang)
02. Anna Lassmichrein Lassmichraus (Trio)
03. Disco in Moskau (Die Toten Hosen)
04. Out Of The Dark (Falco)
05. Stossgebet (Powerwolf)
06. All We Are (Warlock)
07. Goldener Reiter (Joachim Witt)
08. Freiflug (Megaherz)
09. Bitte, Bitte (Die Ärzte)
10. Eins, Zwei, Polizei (Mo-Do)
11. Flieger grüß mir die Sonne (Hans Albers)
12. Menschenfresser (Rio Reiser)
13. Das steht dir gut (Rheingold)
14. Schwarzes Blut (ASP)
15. Schicksal
Line-up
Alexander “Alexx” Wesselsky – Vocals
Jochen “Noel Pix” Seibert – Electric guitar, programming
Jürgen Plangger – Electric guitar
Rupert Keplinger – Bass
Achim Färber – Drums
Website
https://www.eis-brecher.com
Cover Picture
Rating
Music:9.5
Sound:10
General: 9.8
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