There won't be an album review every week, although I suspect there will be loads of releases which catch my interest. Nobody seems to be interested in this band and their new release but the Germans, which is a real shame, because German metal is awesome, and it certainly doesn't stop at Rammstein. It might be the fangirl talking from me, because Eisbrecher is definitely my favourite German band.
One thing in advance: I don't speak German. Sure, I know some words, courtesy of living in a Central-Eastern European country well within Germany's sphere of economic and cultural influence, but I don't understand the lyrics of these songs. I always look them up with translations, but my interest only extends to remembering the gist of it.
Neue Deutsche Härte is very different from most other metal sub-genres. I don't think there's anything quite like it - industrial mixed with some blatant electronica. Thus, pop influences are never far away, and Eisbrecher is and always has been especially commercial-sounding. This album is even more so - some underlying melodies are outright dance pop. It's considerably less varied than their previous album (with everything ranging from real heavy-hitting metal to dubstep), there's no absolute perfection like Die hölle muss warten's Verrückt, but I found it pleasant.
The thing is, I don't listen to Eisbrecher for some hard-hitting complicated metal. There's melodeath and progressive for that. That being said, apart from a few choice songs I find the album as a whole a little... boring, I guess? But the ones I do like somehow ended up being the most pop-ish ones. Oh well, I don't have any metalhead credentials anyway. Where's my glittery purple nail polish again?
The first song, Volle kraft voraus, with its persistent (albeit not too difficult...) bass line is one of the best songs on the album. My personal favourite has to be the second one, 1000 Narben - it's so catchy, I almost can't resist dancing, where's the radio in this godforsaken country which plays music like this though? It's hilarious to me how cheesy these songs actually are - with titles like Rot wie die Liebe. It's a fucking sappy love song, essentially. Himmel, Arsch und Zwim is more in the vein of that faintly militaristic-sounding NDH, although I have no idea what it's actually about - google translate takes you only so far. Or maybe it really doesn't make sense.
The next three songs are also some of my favourites. Schlachtbank has an intro fitting of any mainstream metalcore song, and continues with being a weird power pop fusion, strengthened by the lyrics. Unschuldsengel (I should get an award for typing these titles) is pretty standard, but definitely not too boring. Noch zu retten is, I guess, a ballad, and the synths might as well be from some alternative rock band's new hit song. Only it's pumped up with some bass and occasional drums. I also have a weakness for female backing vocals paired with aggressive-sounding male voices (or the other way around). It's yet again extremely cheesy, but also very soothing.
Bottom line: may be a little disappointing for fans, but with a taste for pop and electronica, it's very pleasing. I like it mainly because there's not many bands I listen to with a similar sound. I'm very into electronica/synths in metal in general, and other fusion genres. (Blasphemy, I know, but considering how much I love In Flames' Soundtrack to Your Escape, that's not something I can deny).
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