Unherz
Mainstream

It is now album number eight for Unherz, is it already? That was what I thought when reading the press material, they all sound the same and they haven’t been around that long, the debut arrived in 2010 and sounds more or less the same as this one and the other six in the discography. I didn’t review the last two but I played through both of them once when they arrived, it is no difference from this one or the last one I reviewed. The German band with punkish political lyrics in German has copied themselves for quite a while now, the covers are more different than the music from album to album and this one isn’t very good.

Musically it is punkish hard rock with some metal feeling, pretty rough and catchy, the vocals are in German with some English phrases here and there. There are fifteen tracks and a playing time of over 65 minutes, that is too long even though the production is good and there is variation throughout the album – just not enough variation and depth. Pretty catchy songs, easy to take to and easy to like. It should also feel very familiar to fans of Unherz as it sounds about the same as their previous seven albums, not a single surprise is heard on this album, not one.

With bands that completely dismiss everything creative or original I just want to bring out a hammer and smash their crap to pieces, but this album is too good for that. Tracks like the title track and F.I.F.A. are very catchy and great, strong hit potential there and even a possible lure back to the album, or not as I think their previous album are much more interesting because back then they offered a sense of novelty and freshness and that that is completely lost in time now. This album is really good to listen to but creatively it is as interesting as the least interesting thing you can think of, I am so bored trying to figure out what to say about this good but indifferent thing that it is right now the most boring thing I can think of.

Fans of the band will probably be impressed and like this a lot, those interested in Unherz should rather check out some of their earlier works before they lost their enthusiasm and raw energy, this feels like something manufactured or mass produced only for money and not for love of the craft. Most music fans will probably not be too disappointed if they get this album, it is good enough to enjoy and there are some excellent hits but overall it is an album that will probably be as fast forgotten as the band itself.

HHHHHHH