Wow, a creative word creation!
BIERTRAS, a compound name made up of Ultras and beer. It seems someone has really dug deep into the trick box. After all, it's a catchy name for an Oi band that sticks in your mind.
The BIERTRAS come from the Erzgebirge, for those who don't know, that's in Southern Saxony, and have released their debut album “Doppelgänger“ on KB-Records.
The title looks striking on the cover, which is elaborately designed as a hologram wobble image, showing the guys sometimes normal and sometimes as nasty bald thugs.
Musically, the five offer solid Oi, based on familiar, catchy beats, packaged in a good, fitting recording. Oi has never been the creative pool for new music, but after the fifth song, the music really becomes boring. Always the same drumbeat, rarely a guitar breakout. The vocals do not stand out from other combos in the genre.
Lyrically, BIERTRAS deal with standard themes of drinking, beer, love, and solidarity. Only rarely does the combo also consider social issues.
They handle this quite decently in the song “Korruption“, but not any differently than others. What is bitterly off-putting about BIERTRAS are their songs about their homeland. There is a lot of singing about pride and patriotism, like the lines
- We live here in the Erzgebirge
- We are proud of it
…
- My fatherland
- With you, I am at home
…
- For here I was born
- And here I will die
- And will pass on my pride
prove. If you then do a little research online, you read that the band has also played with right-wing open bands, and when asked why, they responded quite ignorantly. The BIERTRAS will play several more times this year with the at least right-conservative band Martens Army. That's not kosher.
I would like to close the review with the nice sentence that perfectly describes the band:
Simple Skinhead Oi! with not always demanding lyrics and a tendency towards an incorrect overall impression.
(This sentence is borrowed from “Cafe Huesch“ by Scumfuck).
I couldn't have said it better myself.
