EMSCHERKURVE 77 - "BUCH DES LEBENS" (2015)

EMSCHERKURVE 77 - "BUCH DES LEBENS"
(Running time: 36:48 minutes; 14 songs)
("Sunny Bastards"; CD; 2015):

Hey guys, hope you've had a nice weekend, mine was fine, and after the weekend's over it's maybe the right time to come up with some new posts up here and we will stick to the record reviews and after the last one was on an album from 2014 I thought why not start working on in time up to the present day/year, yes, so I thought and so I'll do now, so this one will be a record review on a 2015 album and in particular on "BUCH DES LEBENS" the 2015 album of EMSCHERKURVE 77, nicely fresh Punkrock from Germany. Beside a few compilation songs EMSCHERKURVE 77 never were anyhow high on my personal favorites list and so this was the first full length of them that made its way in my record collection; and btw this is for all what I know still the newest, current full length of the band, since 2015 they released a bunch of new compilation and tribute-sampler tracks, a bunch of split releases and a proper new (7'') single pretty recently but so far still no brandnew full length album, so this very review here and now is still as current as the album itself (if you get what I mean).They were and still are often linked to Oi! and Streetpunk and this terms were/are often used to describe their style of music, hm, but I don't really think that this fits them well and I would stick with just Punk or even better Punkrock because (so at least in my book) this fits just perfect to them. I bought this album because a handful of songs really stood out in my book when I listened to it back then in a record store and so I took it with me. This is through and through full throttle and no-breaks-allowed-to-use Punkrock offering a nice mash-up of serious and funny-humouristic attitudes and topics, music- as well as lyricwise. Cheeky and edged guitars impel the songs to push ahead, flippant and snotty vocals (nicely beefy and hymnal backed up) award the songs a pretty special character and an own note, while the rhythm section, bass and drums, erect the solid footing on which the songs mature. This guys know how to play and how to write songs, and above all there hovers a pretty sympathic unity-spirit that encircles the whole album. It all comes with sort of a rocking edge to it, especially in the guitar department, that rounds it all up in a nice delightful way and manner. Lyricwise there's also a funny and cool self-ironic note to it, at least from my point of view, and I like this very much. Punkrockers and Punkrock fans will cheer up to it for sure. Personally I would wish for some more variations when it comes to the songwriting so that it all would stay fresher and more exciting as well as more grapping (especially ''on sight''), and I would wish that it all would have more bite, would be more intense, more cogent and forcing (because here and there it all turns out to be a bit too much easy-listening for me) but others may or surely will see this in a different light and that's all good and fine with me. At the end of the day especially "JETZT WIEDER RECHTS", "CAFE AU LAIT", "DRECK & LÜGEN", "HARTE JUNGS", "DURST WIE'N FISCH", and "DAMALS" really stand out, the rest is solid to good stuff, for sure, and if you are into (German) Punkrock you should at least risk an ear and give it a try (if you still don't know it).

(7 of 10 points)

http://www.emscherkurve77.de/ (the link to the homepage of the band, you know what you have to do to go there even if Blogger refuses to post it as a direct link to the page)