Fallbrawl
Pure Mayhem

Germany’s brawlers are looking for mayhem when they unleash their second album on the world, one that I have downprioritised for a long time now as it was released three months ago and I probably received a month before that but other stuff just looked more interesting than this album. Now though they are bugging me about it so I guess I’d better get to it, I have finished listening today and my opinion will be made unclear in the texts that follow in this review. Just for the record, I am not really a fan of hardcore and thinks it is a genre for young teens and not a sophisticated fan of good music. Still, this will of course only marginally effect my skill to review it since I know a lot of hardcore bands and all of that stuff and also know the pubertal nature of the genre so I think I know what to look for.

If you missed what genre this is, it is hardcore with brutal riffing, heavy aggression and a singer yelling out his frustration over the latest politics by whoever is leading the german nation today. But something is a bit strange about it, it is well produced and the sound is nicely polished and the aggression feels a bit restrained making this album a bit of an antinomy of the genre which is all about acne ridden pubertal aggression and frustration. Is it for the ones turning thirty still dreaming they were a youth? I know that it at least sounds better than most stuff I have heard in the genre, but is it better in general?

Not really, it is just a polished version of the same stuff that already is overflowing the genre with albums and bands. It is kind of like a manicured lion, it is still a lion and can kill but somehow it is slightly more sophisticated. So in a way it is a good thing and I like the fact that they are not like many other hardcore bands where some guys around thirty are trying to be youths, something anyone sane can see that they really aren’t so it is a bit less parodic than most hardcore but that doesn’t really mean that it is good to listen to but at least the short playing time of 26 minutes makes it bearable. Long sentence there, almost like a lifetime for a youth which is the nominal audience group for the hardcore genre with Fallbrawl being more geared towards the slightly older youth.

Anyway, it is not dreadful and it is a bit less silly than the genre in general but it is nothing that I can recommend to anyone but a fan of the hardcore genre so if you figure that you are one of those, get this album. Otherwise, I suggest you set your sights on something for the more intellectual, three points for the germans.

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