ENGEL IN ZIVIL, one can ponder what the name is supposed to mean.
The title “Laster” could almost suggest, in connection with the band name, that this is a country band singing about the kings of the highways, the truckers.
But it doesn’t. ENGEL IN ZIVIL is a band that started with Onkelz covers and gradually incorporated their own songs into their set. The band hails from Ehrenfriedersdorf in southern Saxony and has, alongside their passion for the band from Frankfurt/Main, a passion for the round leather ball. Thus, the band has also released an EP for FC Erzgebirge Aue. That doesn’t speak well for Aue. When bands from this scene release songs for a football club, I can already imagine what kind of fans the club will have.
Let’s talk about the band’s sound. To put it diplomatically, it’s simple. A drumbeat that one learns in the second hour of drum lessons drives the songs. Guitar and bass do an equally uninnovative job. Does the singing bring anything to the table? No, it does not. You can understand it clearly, but it is neither snotty nor particularly distinctive. It sounds like a schlager singer who wants to be a rocker. Imagine Florian Silbereisen in a leather jacket with a raspy voice.
The lyrics are no better either. The lyrics oscillate between schlager level and lines in Onkelz style. The schlager level fits the simple hard rock / Deutschrock that the band plays, but when the band tries to act tough and sings such lines, it just sounds ridiculous in that sound. This may resonate with dull bikers and village yobs in the Erzgebirge, but any reasonably intelligent person will flee.
Aside from the fact that most bands referencing the Onkelz are, in my eyes, despicable because they refer to a band that is clearly positioned on the far right, the sound and appearance of the band are simply annoying. If the band were boring, that would already be a compliment. Here, a band is trying something they don’t understand and are miles away from the spirit of rock’n’roll.
Anyone who can listen through the album without suffering from ear bleeding and screaming fits must be as taste-deadened as the winners of the chili pepper eating contest.
