DRITTE WAHL - "10" (2017)

DRITTE WAHL - "10"
(Running time: 47:52 minutes; 12 songs)
("Dritte Wahl Records"; 2017; CD):

Hey guys, good evening or good morning, how you prefer it and from where you are and where you are reading this. Anyhow, anyway… Time for another new post, at least that's how I decided it, so to say, and here and now this ,means it's time for another and a new record-review. Here and now you get my record-review on the still current full-length-album of/by the German Punk legends DRITTE WAHL (en)titled simply "10" and released via the band's very own label "DRITTE WAHL RECORDS" and this already last year in 2017 but I just got my hands on it this very year and so you still get my record-review on it also already still right now and right here in 2018, yes, and so now let's go: Thinking about it I can't really tell what was the last album of DRITTE WAHL I got and when was the last time I really listened to them, hm, a lot of water went down the river(s), so to say, and then "10" hit me pretty much from out of nowhere and really conquered me. I would never have thought that in 2018 finally again a German Punk band and album would make me cheer that enthusiastical and euphoric up to it'n'them but after this turned out to be exactly that way then it's maybe not that much of a surprise that DRITTE WAHL would/are that band to do  exactly that. This is a really and truly damn fucking strong album that really is packed up full with energy and dynamics that tear down every wall(s) and go straight over the top through the roof(s) and that's also filled with great surprises, fresh ideas, and an really incredible high level of 'thoughtfulness' and 'soulfulness' (musicwise and lyricwise) and all to the absolute maximum and all well-grown-up in a through-and-through authentic and honest and still highly energetic and just still hungry way, hell yeahr, and with a damn lot of the songs on/of "10" DRITTE WAHL really seem to speak right and direct and straight out of my heart and soul. This is right from the get-go a total and massive (German) Punk assault of the highest quality grade with strong (Hard) Rock and Metal reminiscences in it and this time heavily enriched with clear Old School Rock & Roll arrangements, rhythmes and grooves but all done very highly energetic and delivered so damn very fresh and in a pure organic way that it's just conquering again and again without taking any prisoners. Also fantastic worked out Chanty Rock rhythmes and grooves and influences are to be noticed and also some few to huge Country & Western marks in the arrangements and the compositorial work in general and also especially in the guitar work are (at least from my point of view) clearly there and this through-and-through only for the damn right reasons. And this all is melted perfectly in the still so incredible highly energetic and dynamic and totally fresh and still absolutely stand-alone done'n'delivered (German) Punk(rock) that it's nothing else and especially nothing less than mindblowing and you would expect anything but not that these fine gentlemen are now around for already 30/31 years and that this very one here was already their, yes, damn tenth full-length-album, because this is as fresh, as strong, and even greater than for example their legendary and in my personal case truly lifechanging and groundbreaking milestone "NIMM DREI" from back then in 1996. Highly diverse guitar work, multi-facetted rhythm arrangements and work, and charismatic vocals and all melted together by breathtaking melody lines, yes, this are the ingredients that turn DRITTE WAHL's "10" into a total masterpiece. All is wrapped up in brilliant, highly diverse and multi-layered as well as multi-facetted, incredible exciting and so damn grapping songwriting, and all highly emotional and intense, honest and heartfelt, and without any ridiculous clichées or pathos, it's really so damn close to perfect and it conquers and overwhelms me again and again. And this all is also to say exactly in that same way to/about the absolutely amazing and just totally fantastic lyrics. A beautiful artwork and a warm and organic and yet still clear and heavy production-sound finally round it all up. If you are into Punkrock and really should not have or even know DRITTE WAHL's "10" you really should desperately change this finally. My last words: A damn pretty much perfcet album, get it!!!

(10 of 10 points)

http://www.dritte-wahl.de/ (-the link to the homepage of the band)

DRITTE WAHL - "SCOTTY" (2017, "10")

DRITTE WAHL - "DER HIMMEL ÜBER UNS" (2017, "10")

PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS - "CHOOSING MENTAL ILLNESS AS A VIRTUE" (2018)

PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS - "CHOOSING MENTAL ILLNESS AS A VIRTUE"
(Running time: 46:28 minutes; 10 songs)
("Season of Mist" & "Housecore Records"; 2018; CD):

Hey guys, yes, again after too many days I am finally back @ work again up here. Guys, in all honesty, I am damn sorry but currently I just simply don't get it done to find or make the time to do finally some more new stuff up here again with still all the time far too much hectic and stress in the 'real life departments' right now and also the two already last month announced bigger posts are still overdue, I know, but trust me when I say that I'm still 'at it' and I hope to bring them finally up as soon as possible and for right now untill then and so far I will be happy enough when I finally bring this new post up and online still today respectively tonight, yes, and so here we finally go again: Today respectively tonight you will get my record-review on the new full-length-album of/by PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS titled "CHOOSING MENTAL ILLNESS AS A VIRTUE", released (if I now remember it correct) pretty much exactly two months ago sort of in/at the middle of February 2018 via "SEASON OF MIST" and "HOUSECORE RECORDS" and being wrapped-up in an incredible gorgeous digi-artwork. I was and still am a big, a huge fan of the debut "WALK THROUGH EXITS ONLY" of/by PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS (released back then five years ago in 2013) and so I was really curious to get my hands on the then finally released successor release and then... and then I was pretty much confused, at least a bit, because while all the Sludge Core influences and the pissed off extreme Hardcore notes where already on the debut very prominent all this harsh and devastating, bloody reigning and rotten Death Metal paired with some ice cold slaying Black Metal marks are pretty much completly (more or less) new here on "CHOOSING MENATL ILLNESS AS A VIRTUE", yes, and so (again like in the case of the above mentioned debut back then) I needed some time and it took me some listens to really get 'this all here' and before I really started to discover this pretty blocky and demanding, harsh and challenging but or and above all incredibe brutal, extreme, nicely clichèe-free, and rousing album in all its sick and twisted, sinister shining glory. PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS created with "CHOOSING MENATL ILLNESS AS A VIRTUE" a really sick'n'twisted, distorted'n'distorting and evil droning as well as crusty shredding bastard out of nihilistic'n'apocalyptic Sludge Core, absolutely demolishing and extreme and metallic as well as by crusty'n'noisy Punk fueled Hardcore, 'devastatingly distorted and distorting' Death Metal, and some few hatefilled and ice cold slaying really bitter and harsh Black Metal, all done very, very extreme as well as truly damn independently/self-conatined and maybe best loosely to be located somewhere between EYE HATE GOD on the one side, ARSON ANTHEM and some RINGWORM on the other side, all wrapped up by schizophrenic GORGUTS styled Death Metal (not on that over absolutely every top let us say 'proggy' level but in that insane and harshly extreme tradition), all cultivated by some few icy (early) DARK THRONE marks and all made round by some SUPERJOINT RITUAL impressions, yes, somewhere in between all this devastating noise you will find PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS cooking their very own sort'n'taste of crusty and thick dark soup. The songs carry a lot of emotional weight and are 'highliest' intense and interwoven through'n'through by a very sinister and psychotic atmosphere that really breathes life into the harsh delivered, blocky arranged and demanding composed, challenging songs that offer a lot of strong ideas, fresh surprises, and really demanding twists'n'turns all along the way. Driven forward by the brutal and charismatic lead vocals (brutal grunts and harsh shouts go hand in hand and some sick screms round it all up) and the multi-facetted but all the time incredible heavy and aggressive slaying'n'shredding guitars and all is then backed up beefy and bulky by the full power bass work and the massively smashing and stunning drumming. Strong and outspoken lyrics, an already mentioned fantastic artwork, and a heavy and dirty production-sound then round it all finally up. Sadly some songs just loose a bit of their focus and get lost on their way somewhere in their own noisy droning and über-aggressive 'destructiveness' and you really should prepare yourself to invest your time and yourself quite a bit into this highly extreme and insane, sick and psychotic harsh and also really damn strong album, yes, but then you definitely find yourself a really convincing brutal and extreme manifest of 'self-catharsis' and in all honesty I can only recommend this highly authentic and by all means just damn massive one here to you, period. So, yes, go out and get if you should still don't call it your own. And, yes, it's really, really good that Philip H. Anselmo is finally back again.

(9 of 10 points)

http://philanselmo.com/theillegals/ (-the link to the homepage of the band)

PHILIP H. ANSELMO - "THE IGNORANT POINT" (2018, "CHOOSING MENATL ILLNESS AS A VIRTUE")

WOLFBRIGADE - "RUN WITH THE HUNTED" (2017)

WOLFBRIGADE - "RUN WITH THE HUNTED"
(Running time: 26:51 minutes; 10 songs)
("Southern Lord Recordings"; 2017; CD):

Hey guys, yes, I am back at the regular work up here and so here already now incoming is the first 'really new' post after the (sort of...) 'mandatory' retrospection post on 2017, yes, and so now here you get my record-review on the larger-than-life 2017 masterpiece of/by the absolutely almighty WOLFBRIGADE from Sverige titled "RUN WITH THE HIUNTED", the successor album to/of their 2012 immortal masterpiece "DAMNED" (also released back then via "SOUTHERN LOTRD RECORDINGS"), and it was released at the 28th of april of 2017 and this of course (again) by/through/via "SOUTHERN LORD RECORDINGS". WOLFBRIGADE's "RUN WITH THE HUNTED" features ten new songs in roughly half-an-hour of a total running time, yes, and this would be sort of the only 'critical-point' of it because that's simply not much of a running time anyhow anyway... but WOLFBRIGADE really manage to make up for this with two huge points: (1.) "RUN WITH THE HUNTED" is so massively and 'overwhelmingly' intense that it definitely 'devastatingly' destroys absolutely everything and atomizes de facto everyone in its way in this shortly twenty-seven minutes so that it leaves no questions unanswered and no wishes unfullfilled; (2.) WOLFBRIGADE are simply that incredible damn good, nah, they are that larger-than-life great that this roughly twenty-seven minutes are packed up full with a so high skilled songwriting that beneath the overwhelming intensity and also all the high'n'tight atmosphere, beneath the brutal and yet all the time melodic and diverse massacre an incredible amount of multi-variations and diversity is waiting, enriching and cultivating it all massively and just waiting there to be discovered by all of you outta there. WOLFBRIGADE were founded back then in 1995 as WOLFPACK and they conquered me sort of instantly back then with their massively impressive debut full-length-album "A NEW DAWN FADES" and from then on and on and on and on, all the time, always. In 1999 then they changed from WOLFPACK to WOLFBRIGADE and... continued to conquer me supremely and this also all the time. Their 2012 masterpiece "DAMNED" was (in my book) back then their so far crowning chapter of their impressive career and discography... and now we have 2017 and... nah, sorry, bullshit... we (have) had 2017 and "RUN WITH THE HUNTED" was unleashed at the world, hell yeahr, and I don't know how they did it but they 'at least' hold on to "DAMNED" on the exact same larger-than-life level but I would even go so far to/and say that "RUN WUTH THE HUNTED" even is a step ahead, yes, that totally amazing and absoultely fantastic it is. This is at its core highest intensity Crustcore with some beefy'n'bulky D-Beat roots in it as well as truckloads of devastating (Sverige) Death Metal and just looking at respectively listening to some of the melodic and symphonic guitar leads and also partly because of the nihilistic atmosphere also some Black Metal marks here and there in it, too, yes, and this all done on or from a very, very unique and characteristic stand-alone position with a gigantic and forceful own identity to it all. At a very loose description I would say that if you imagine a very high skilled and 'amazingly' fresh and self-contained and stand-alone mixture out of the glorious old WOLFPACK masterpieces (like "A NEW DAWN FADES", "LYCANTHRO PUNK", and "ALLDAY HELL"), THE EXPLOTED (especially "THE MASSACRE", "BEAT THE BASTARDS", and "FUCK THE SYSTEM"), and DISCHARGE on the one side, yes, and Sverige Death Metal somewhere between AT THE GATES, ENTOMBED, DISMEMBER, and UNLEASHED on the other side, yes, then you do have a pretty good starting description of what to expect of/from WOLFBRIGADE in general and of/from "RUN WITH THE HUNTED" in particular, yes, and fans of the GENOCIDE SUPERSTARS, SKITSYSTEM, and DISFEAR will find here in and with WOLFBRIGADE's "RUN WITH THE HUNTED" surely their new holy grail as well. But with facing that namedropping here and now please keep in mind that WOLFBRIGADE absolutely do their very, very own thing, point and fact. All is done by surely high skilled musicians that/who deliver it all via outstanding songwriting: Forceful, intense, massive, brutal, harsh, stunning, and yet very melodical and also hymnal arranged and 'impressively' playful and soulful, yes, and also beneath the 'surface' of this high-intensity raging massacre it's all very diverse and enriched with fresh ideas and clever subtle enrichments and exciting twists'n'turns all along the ride that grant us 'ongoingly' grapping moments without end that really shine bright and are nothing else but absolutely overwhelming. The same it to say about the all the time incredible sheer exciting and grapping highest intensity and the very intense, tight, and breathtaking atmosphere of all the songs and the whole album. Carried out is this all via razorsharp cutting and sledgehammer-like banging guitars that deliver powerful raging riffing and crushing rhythm work as well as (and especially) stunningly intense and breathtaking atmospheric melody lines and leads'n'solos, yes, and that are marking the songs strongly and heavily and this also for sure for all the right reasons; the pretty much same is to say about the great and very charismatic vokillz that are brutal done 'throaty' shouts that still deliver melodies and anthemic/hymnal lines (verses and Refrains a-like) and that totally (over)shine bright, too. The fast raging and harsh thundering rhythm section then finally tears down every resistance and smashes through everything and everyone, yes, and that's a total wrecking ball going highest skilled to work. The pace of the songs is mostly up-tempo to fast pace but take the time and listen intense and you will find so much exciting and impressive surprises, yes, that will absoultely leave you breathless in all positive ways. My personal favorites? Forget it. The whole damn album is my personal total favorite, period. Strong and thought-provoking lyrics, a great artwork, and a powerful blasting production sound round it all finally up, yes, turning this absolutely into the real deal and the complete package. I know I did this time no real 'ranked list' of 'my top albums of/for 2017' but if I would have done one then WOLFBRIGADE's "RUN WITH THE HUNTED" would be clearly in my top three of/for 2017, yes, and this without a single doubt. I love this band and album. Okay, I think I've said so much all what I had to say so far about WOLFBRIGADE's "RUN WITH THE HUNTED", yes, and everyone into Crustcore, D-Beat, really hard Punk and Hardcore (Punk) musick, and (Sverige) Death Metal (that's slightly blackened) simply definitely and desperately needs to have this absolutely mindblowing and breathtaking surely larger-than-life masterpiece and this (in case you really should not have or even know it) best 'yesterday than today', if you get what I mean. Anyhow, my last words: Get it!!!

(10 of 10 points)

https://wolfbrigadeofficial.wordpress.com/ (-the link to the sort of homepage of the band)

WOLFBRIGADE - "KALLOCAIN" (2017, "RUN WITH THE HUNTED")