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The local heroes, Die Kassierer, 4 Promille, Pöbel & Gesocks, and..., and
EMSCHERKURVE 77.
The Emscher is one of the rivers that, like hardly any other body of water, stands for the Ruhr area and its environmental pollution. This river has been painstakingly renatured, just like the entire region. Where are the mines, the steelworks, the buddies from back in the day?
Barely real anymore, but only in memories, is this time.
EMSCHERKURVE 77 can still remember this time. The band has been around for 15 years, having undergone a makeover in the meantime, and after the split with Hounds & Harlots and the single release “Wurzeln, Seele, Elternhaus,” they are now releasing a new album. The record is called BOOK OF LIFE. The band reads, or rather sings, from it in fourteen songs. Nicely packaged in an attractive digipack or alternatively in a limited vinyl edition of 500 copies.
I enthusiastically listened to the last two releases and I can still vividly remember the concert last year at Berlin's Wild at Heart. Now, the fourteen songs should become the punk record of the year, right?
Yes, actually they should.
Musically, it’s all very cinematic. Fast riffs, catchy melodies, driving drums, everything you need. The recording is also great, maybe even a bit too thick, but definitely very vibrant. It’s fun to listen to.
But every punk song also needs lyrics. After all, punk is not surf music.
And that’s where the shadows come in.
The first song is one of those I don’t want to hear anymore. Please, dear bands, stop making songs about how great your band is and how wonderful friendship is. That may all be true, but just because everyone sings about it doesn’t make it more interesting or better.
It gets boring.
Boring!! Do you hear that? So just stop.
Song two is the same. Guys, a punk rock band doesn’t need to sing about making punk rock and being different. That’s why you play in a punk band and not in a boy band.
Already two songs, right at the beginning, that are really overdone in terms of theme.
With “Alte Zeiten” and “Teufel,” it finally gets to the point. Thematically, it’s nothing new either, but there’s no ear bleeding.
With song number five “Jetzt wieder rechts,” we get the best song of the album.
Against Deutschrock, against Onkelz, against Frei.Wild, against acceptance of right-leaning audiences. Especially in these times, an important statement. Great lyrics, great song.
Whether the song “Dreck & Lügen” is really necessary is something everyone should decide for themselves. “Oire Szene” is certainly not without controversy, but I think it’s important that there are people who draw attention to certain contexts and events. That raises awareness and, in my eyes, is not wrong. The fact that some things are certainly seen as very petty by them is also a fact. EMSCHERKURVE 77 knows what they are singing about. They also belong to the gray area, according to Oire Szene.
“Harte Jungs” is also really good. A raucous, HC-heavy melody and lyrics that take on all those wannabe middle-class kids who act tough and do “streetcore.” A refreshing song. Yes, maybe the song comes off as elitist, but it is what it is; a tattoo, athletic figure, and a guitar don’t make you punk, they don’t even make you subculture.
Alongside these really good songs, there are unfortunately also some misses, like the first two songs of the album, but also a few others. You don’t have to sing about yourself. If it must be, okay, one song, but not half a dozen. Can’t you think of anything better??
So, the impression remains mixed, a lot of bright light, a lot of shadow, and a bit of dim light. Not bad, but also not really good.
