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>>> Not at all <<<
I love, yes, worship SMOKE BLOW since their 2003 album "German Angst" and when the Kiel band released "Dark Angel" two years later and I saw them live for the first time, I was at their feet! This brutal hardcore sound with solid noise and a touch of stoner rock has kept me flowing ever since.... And then there was the show of the two front pigs Jack Letten and Mc Straßenköter, that was unique! And then the Kiel sextet simply broke up two years ago :-(
In November 2012, there was the first sign of life from Jack Letten, but from then on under the name Erik Cohen. The video for his first solo song "Chrom" was available online and spread like wildfire. However, I was shocked, where was this cool guy Jack Letten??? Simple (stoner) rock, ugh how boring.... Checked off...
And now, 15 months later, I have Erik Cohen's first album "Nostalgia for the Future" in front of me and "Chrom" is the second song on the German-language album. Instead of fat, cool hardcore punk, melodic, leisurely German rock now resonates from the speakers. I have to admit, I was so disappointed during the first listen that I was about to throw the CD out the window. But there must be something positive about his debut work, after all, Erik has written so many great SMOKE BLOW songs....
And now, after what I estimate is the eighth time listening to the 12 songs, I have to slightly revise my initial opinion. The lyrics really have a good underlying character. I would love to internalize them further, but unfortunately, I don't have the booklet, so I can't say anything about the lyrics :-( that usually results in a significant point deduction.
Erik's 41-minute long (stoner) German rock is slowly starting to resonate with me, after I completely blocked out his SMOKE BLOW past. Yes, with each listen, I like his album better, yet it still doesn't come close to the SMOKE BLOW records. And the comparisons with UDO LINDENBERG, DEPECHE MODE, THE CULT, and MOTÖRHEAD, as stated in the promo info, are completely unfounded. Only DANZIG and TYPE O NEGATIVE can still be somewhat justified (with a lot of goodwill).
And so I still miss SMOKE BLOW :-(.
