It has been quite calm around DIE SKEPTIKER in recent years.
In 2017, the band did play a small tour, but they haven't really been in the spotlight of attention in recent years.
So it was all the more pleasant when I received the first information last year that the band had recorded a new album.
With "No Way Too Far," the band will release their new album on January 26, 2018.
The tenth and final album "Aufsteh´n" from 2013 was more than a successful work. It might have been the best record that DIE SKEPTIKER have ever made.
"No Way Too Far" makes it clear from the cover that it will be darker and harder. A weathered skull, barbed wire, and crosses greet you on the cover.
The band's style delivers what the cover promises. The music is harder, more punk rock than the last album, more underground. One could almost say that the band has thrown everything unnecessary overboard. Pure punk rock, direct and unembellished!
This is certainly pleasing, but the break compared to "Aufsteh´n" is quite large. I can imagine that some people will need to warm up to this album. I count myself among them.
DIE SKEPTIKER can do a lot musically, as they have shown on the past ten albums, but they have opted for a straightforward, direct, hard record. Is it a reflection of our world? Despair, anger, hopelessness?
They open the album with "Entschuldigung" and have created a highlight of the album with this song. Hardly any band has sung so self-reflectively about aging and its impact on the band and fans. Here is something that is rarely found on the album, the lyrics are infused with fine humor.
"Immerfort" is the second song of the album. A song that processes a personal tragedy, or at least it sounds that way. When a loved one leaves, it hurts, it takes time to process, and something will always remain. The gap that this person tears into life can never be completely filled, too many memories. A very sad, a moving song.
One could say that after that, there is political punk a la DIE SKEPTIKER. By the third song, you can hear Eugen's own singing style, which is at a high level. The lyrics are just as strong. It is this very unique way with words, this very unique singing style that makes this band special.
"No Way Too Far" has been processed lyrically by bands many times and offers little new thematically. The song shows that nothing has changed in recent years. What does that mean, the last years...the last decades! How old is "Deutsche Waffen, Deutsches Geld" by Normahl? No change to this day...
Three songs deal with World War I, which ended almost 100 years ago. A senseless killing machine that represented the largest slaughter of people in war to date. Gas warfare, submarine warfare, child soldiers, cripples, suffering...and for what?
It continues more realistically with "Gegen die Wand." A line that has been written for generations of young people is here in the chorus:
They want everything, but they don't know what.
A song that describes this narrow line between party, puberty, longing, and drug-induced euphoria, crash, loss of reality. It could also be titled "Ode to Christiane F.".
Just before the end comes "Ich weiß nicht," a song that was practically written for me. A song that I have been living since my birth.
I don't know how it works,
to like other people.
I don't know how it works,
to be likable.
I don't know how it works,
not to wither away in everyday life.
…
The "final chord" as the last piece is a heavy, dark, depressive song. Deeply sad, withdrawn....alone.
A text that moves one to tears.
An incredibly strong text.
The eleven songs on this album offer an emotional rollercoaster ride, masterfully crafted lyrics, powerful, hard punk music, and a distinctive voice.
It is a record that one must work through to some extent.
In the hope that the band will not play their final chord with this album, I can wholeheartedly recommend it.
