#jbo

Emperor - ‘The loss and curse of reverence’

Hannes: Is someone singing? This is utter madness! Stupid Borgir meets Strapping Young Lad or what? Unfortunately the sound is pathetic. I couldn't hear it while driving, it would drive me insane. But this is very interesting, totally wacky. Has Mussorgsky motifs, not very pretty but very interesting.

Richard: But you played some band on tape. (laughs) Emperor? There's some really good stuff out there. I really like Meshuggah.

Till: (hangs his head next to the player): He sings all the time!

Richard: Yes, yes, he sings.

Till: It’s very brutal. Not my thing at all, but definitely very interesting. I really thought it was some kind of noise, but not singing. Weirdly mixed.

Richard: Nice sound collage.

Armageddon Dildos - ‘Open up your eyes’

Hannes: I think that's really good, I would buy it. Is that the Krupps? Armageddon dildos? What a cool band name! Never heard of it, but I like it.

Richard: Krupps? Sings like Jürgen Engler. In any case, you can tell that they made an effort to combine modern songwriting with conventional guitars. Pretty interesting in that respect.

Till: It always bothers me when you're immediately reminded of another band when it comes to things like that. At first I thought it was a Depeche Mode knockoff because of the choirs and sounds. And suddenly there is a Krupps song. I do not know.

Richard: In any case, they make an effort.

Paradise Lost - ‘One Second’

Hannes: I can't hear such sampling strings, worn out and pretty cheap. Harmonies that have already been made thousands of times. Judas Priest recorded that fifteen years ago. Bores me. Who is this? Paradise Lost? This is PL? Rewind again. This is just unreal. Then they are now dead to me. I think they want to get rich. I'm really shocked.

Richard: Sounds like Depeche Mode. A German band? An American? An English one? Yes? Then I don't know them. Paradise Lost. Hm, I once saw them in concert and thought they were so shitty. I left. One of the few concerts where I didn't stay until the end. Was really bad. So posable. Although I don't think this is bad at all. They have changed for the better.

Till: I actually don't like Paradise Lost at all. But I like this song very much. It pretty much suits my taste in music. I tend to listen to darker things, gothic and such.

Richthofen - ‘Ich Mach’ dich tot’

Hannes: Cool sound. directional, right? Full in your face, you could maybe even get something out of it in terms of production technology. I don't want to appear stuffy, but the message in the song is probably not the one that should be conveyed to the young listener. I don't want to offend, but it's kind of like a Rammstein clone.

Till: Richthofen is the name of the band? Aha. And the song is called 'I'll kill you'? Hm. It's like, 'I'm-really-bad-bad'. I really can't say more about it.

Richard: There are quite a few bands going in that direction right now, aren't there?

Rammstein - ‘Du hast’

Hannes: That's Rammstein. In my opinion, this song sounds a lot like Laibach. Business-wise they are probably making the right move, namely becoming more harmless, poppier and more commercial. This will definitely be successful. I think it's a good thing that they've dispensed with this exaggerated Teutonic pathos. I like it, but Herzeleid was even better.

J.B.O - ‘Ein bißchen frieden’

Till: Ah, J.B.O!

Richard: It's okay when musicians copy other bands, but musically I find this really shitty. They can't even keep their spirits up. I don't find it funny at all. Actually, it's outrageous. You should have respect for certain things.

Till: I don't think it's that bad. What really sucks is that they went so hard behind our backs.

Richard: Didn't even put the copyright on the record.