Six years after their first album "Der Dumme August" (see also my review: https://www.ramtatta.de/s/reviews/f/details/id/7679/), DER DUMME AUGUST now releases their second album, simply titled "Zwei", on orange vinyl with a download code. That's a thumbs up !!!! And this time also with a generous lyric sheet !!!
In the six years, quite a bit has changed in the band, but the music itself has not changed due to the personnel changes within the quartet. Light, breezy pop-punk without complicated frills, which unfortunately does not set them apart from the other 10,000 pop-punk bands within a 100 km radius in and around Cologne.
However, there has been some change in the vocals; perhaps I just have a different perception/interpretation now than I did six years ago. In any case, the vocals on "Zwei" by singer Berten feel too unemotional to me. The singing simply does not captivate me, which was different on the debut album. Perhaps that's why Caro is also heard as a second vocalist (even as a duet) on "Zwei" at times, which makes it a bit better... Overall, however, I find the vocal parts in the 12 songs mostly too boring. Unfortunately....
Lyrically, there’s again nothing to complain about, and in response to the question from DUMMEN AUGUST in the song "Daniela": "Tell me Daniela, do you still want to hear Riders on the Storm by The Doors at your funeral?", I can only reply, "No, she doesn’t want to, I asked her" ;-)
Conclusion: After the successful debut album, the second work by DER DUMME AUGUST falls noticeably short, at least in terms of vocals. Perhaps it’s also because the four Cologne musicians recorded "Zwei" entirely on their own. A fifth voice from a neutral censor would have done them good.
