Heldmachine
Lügen

Lie, that is what German band Heldmaschine has decided to call their new album. The press sheet starts by saying goodbye to sincerity, honesty and integrity and that finally lying and cheating is allowed. They also reuse a band quote from the previous album: “do not trust a bomb you haven’t placed yourself” which is sound advice I would say – do not trust strange bombs. Lügen is the third album by this band that is said to be a parallel project to Rammstein cover band Völkerball that was founded in 2008, and Heldmaschine was formed in 2011.

And said band Rammstein can certainly be used as a reference to describe this band, as can many other bands that perform their vocals in German. I think vocals in German is a refreshing thing but upon hearing this band and also the latest by Unherz I cannot help but thinking that if I have heard one, I have heard them all – more or less. Heldmaschine offers heavy music, hardrock, feels a bit industrial so to speak. The vocals are rough and harsch, powerful music is what it is. And we get a dozen tracks, well produced and powerful although I don’t think that we can call this album fresh or exciting. Novelty is not a word I would use for this album; I think that the variation is decent enough to keep fans interested.

It is a pretty good album, it offers strong music, lots of power and emotion – and a lot of double crossing and lying. Ballads about domestic violence and stuff like that, which must be a dramatic turn of events for the listener or could have been but it isn’t – it is more like I wrote in an earlier paragraph that it feels like I have heard it already. I would like more novelty and more exciting angles, they take the safer route and even if they do it well I cannot help but feel that I will forget this album as soon as I am done writing about it. It is not memorable enough to really stand out and other bands has made this before these guys and done it better, and earlier. That is not the way to do it if you want to make an album that stands out in a business that churns out hundreds of new albums every month.

Yeah, it is alright and I can without lying guess that those of you who like the similar bands will find this album agreeable as well. I like the first track Collateral and the tenth track Die Zeit is Reif those are standouts on this album, but they are not brilliant. The album is for the fans and the rest of us will not really miss anything we haven’t already heard. I am not very convinced by this, it is pretty good but nothing more than that.

HHHHHHH