Review: Die Eule Im Bart Des Judas – S/T 7¨

split_cover_frontAn atypical example of how you could find enjoyability by blending synths with punk. Pretty please, let’s get this started, with the song “2.95“. With an outrageous attempt, it seems like, at first. To fit in a connection between the synth and the punk, the intro leaves a lot to wish for. Since you’re trying to fathom what it’s going to be about, even though you know the prerequisite of the whole situation. However, the bleep-bloop is sweeping into the sound-scape in such a natural way that you’d have to part yourself from the regular concept, as you think of things you’re not supposed to blend. This is certainly one of those situations, but when the punk steamrolls you and puts you in a trance with the other components that are involved. Without it sounding ridiculous at all, it also kick-starts the feeling of that there’s something to fetch from this. When you’re supposed to get into the pit, the unconventionality sets no boundaries to the bizarre. Add the German language as a factor of why you’d love to get involved. Even though you don’t understand the lyrics, the short-handed yet stout approach is all it takes for you to drop your own glass jaw.

Things are going to get a little bit more heated. Next up is the song “Is Mir Egal“, with combusted within its own flames, trying to feature much more of a sing-a-long feeling. Crazily trying to heat it up a notch, you’ve got an emblazoned tempo that is heading for the treadmill. It’s time to get engaged in what’s happening right in front of you. Sort of feels like this song was dedicated for fools like this reviewer. Might not be the most advanced things you’d ever hear, but the sheer amount of energy that is being produced in this song is utterly sick – in a good way. But at the same time something you’d expect if you’ve ever heard anything even remotely close. The single one thing that should be even more included, is the basic synth that is simply just going along with it. You can call it synth-punk if you want to, but I think you’d need to have more of it featured for it to be called that. As it fades out, you’d be glad you even caught up with the singing, because it’s pretty much what holds the basic outlining up, and it fuels the flame.

Chaotic might be the word for this. It might also not be. As you tune in for the song “Hau Dirn Buch Aufn Kopp“. There’s such a weird feeling when you hear the intro, because you’d think there’s more to it than the baseline and the shrieking singer. Mind you, it is as good as it can be, but they fall short when leaving it. Probably the only thing that is worth staying for is the energized singer and the muddy baseline that simply just annihilates everything else. Could’ve been somewhat of a classic, but there’s a need to pull it up a notch. So we don’t feel as formulaic as it can be, when struggling to listen through it. You don’t feel the same enthusiasm as you did with the aforementioned songs because of it. Unfortunately, it’s what you could expect from a track like this. There are a lot of things that could’ve been much better.

What seems to pick up steam afterwards is the song “Bauch Rein Brust Raus“, which is one of those things you wouldn’t get either. It seems to be an intermezzo, just to bring you closer to the potential of Die Eule Im Bart Des Judas, but it falls short. If you’d invite some bastardized genre into the mix, this is what the result would be. This is a prime example of how things don’t really mix well and when you don’t see the point with it being there. It feels like a total void if you compare it to the other songs, it could even be worse than the song before this one. It would even out the numbers if this one had been put out of the 7¨, because it doesn’t give or take anything. When listening, it leaves a pretty bland impression, which isn’t sustainable in the long run. Better luck with the upcoming song, you’d suppose.

However, the revitalized energy of the singers Markus and Timm, is a crown jewel you just couldn’t make up. Within the song “Steckt In Dem Arbeitslosen Vielleicht Ein Kreativer“, it sounds like they’re trying to match a minimalistic synth-component with their energized punk brew that is about to blow the walls out of the building. A quirky synth-scape aligning with the desperate vocalists. Even though it’s not a long-runner it leaves an impression of how things can be when you combine the most unsuspecting genres with each other. It makes an odd mixture, but it doesn’t leave anything out, except the bad stuff you’d wish you never ever heard again. Here, you don’t really know where to place them, whether they should be considered geniuses or just simply maniacs. The important thing is, they succeed with something pretty damn original. Even though it might be quite a bizarre endeavor.

It’s about to get even weirder. The upcoming song “Die Familie Kohl – Eine Deutsche Tragödie“, feature their own take on Survivor‘s song “Eye Of The Tiger“, even though it’s just being heard in the intro. Something you might not hear from a band like this. But as they move on from that somewhat ridiculous stunt, they incorporate it as a divider between their energized vocals and their otherwise steadily moving punk-rock attitude. The difference between this and the other songs is that there’s no synth around, it’s what they’d sound without one. If you’d pull up a drunkard from the streets and let him vocalize himself, this would be the result. Which is what I think they were striving for, but it has all that grittiness that is needed to forward their punk-rock outfit. It’s been said once and needs to be repeated, the vocals make it so much more sinister.

Next up is the song “Vapiano” that grazes us with a flat line combined with punk. Reminding you about the first songs on the album, which is in no way a great thing, because repetitiveness is what kills us. But when the baseline strikes a chord after another and the riffs just blast themselves out into the room, they’re packed with a little bit more ambiguity and a wake-up call that just couldn’t be designed in a more inappropriate manner. With everything you’d ever want to hear and the synth-lines waltzing around in the background, while the punk-rock influences get a taste of the foreground. They seem to shift it accordingly, depending on what mood they seem to be in when recording each song. Hopefully this song can be teaching a lesson or two about how to fully incorporate two differentiating genres, with a pretty decent result.

When continuing to make a way through the album, the song “Anzug” makes itself heard. Unfortunately, it sounds exactly like the first songs, not much have changed. But they make an alternate version of them, which definitely doesn’t sound as good as the first ones. However, there are some parts of the songs that could be genuinely liked. Despite the recognizable and re-used patterns, the baseline is even more prevalent and lies like a heavy burden on the sound-scape, which heeds to the more gritty core of what is Die Eule Im Bart Des Judas, which combined with the ridiculously peppy back-up singing make it worthwhile. By this time, you would be pretty fed up with what has been happening with the latest songs that were listened to. Let’s continue.

The singer is probably feeling my droopiness in the song “Kleingeld Fürn Kiosk“, taking himself out completely with the last bit of energy that can be afforded. In this sound the sound-scape sounds a little bit more like a stereotypical hardcore song, which makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. The intro to it is absolutely superb and the will of the singer is outstanding, as he shrieks until he is out of air. Which can be heard in this song, amongst the walls, surrounding the little moshpit, that you’d build around it. Maybe one of the better songs on this album, since it doesn’t rely on the synths to make it happen but clings to the more typical hardcore sound, which at heart sounds a little bit American but borrow stutt from outside the bursting bubble.

Finally, at the song “Asphalt Affe” which make riverbeds shake, and water to flood. Here’s a good example of how they’re thinking outside of the box and also making it that way. The lunking baseline, the quirky synth-scape and the brutal vocals are all smashed into the same sound-scape. Whoever endures it can get out alive. Somehow, it makes you think of Obscene Extreme, at least the year when bananas were up on the stage dancing like maniacs and nude people were running around there too. This song is the perfect soundtrack for that, but it also screams of some originality at least. Like their other songs, even though they haven’t really taken it up a notch like they have in some of the songs. But this one is a testimony for how they could be and actually feel relevant with perfectly outspoken elements crashing in between.

Now, for the last song, “Unser Gutes Rechts“. Which has a really weird but funky intro that you could sway yourself to dance to. However, by this song, you’re getting tired of the shrieking vocalists and repetitiveness. You would have to have a lot of endurance to endure it, if there’s anyway to put it out there. Don’t really know what could be said about this, but at least they go out in a similar fashion. They have a pretty decent approach at their formula, which they’ve been trying to make their own throughout the whole album. Since it’s their first self-titled under this name, I think they can shape it up a little bit in the future. But what’s good about them is that they have a lot of originality in what they’re doing, at least from the perspective of this reviewer. The album is pretty decent, should you be interested in it, check it out. Hopefully they’ll flap their wings out and fly away in a dramatic fashion, only to return with a better album than this. At least they’re doing something, which is one thing you’re going to need – but you’re surely going to need something beyond it.

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