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Eisbrecher

Antikörper

Written by: ASH on 28/11/2006 21:42:43

Everything's fading in colour in order to fit the end of Fall, welcoming Winter soon enough. It's quite melancholic and dull, but then again, you could be lucky enough to get your hands on a new album that perfectly matches every aspect of this period of fallen leaves and stormy afternoons. What I'm talking about is the sophomore release from the German Eisbrecher, a project created about four years ago by Alexx Wesselsky and Noel Pix, former members of Megaherz.

"Antikörper", as it is respectively titled in German, the composition of electronic rock takes you far away to a world of emotions and various dark atmospheres, and I can already say that it's a pleasure to get through all the fifteen tracks packed inside the second release from Eisbrecher. Of course, it's a difficult jump to a scene where the vocals are purely in German, but if you've always had a hard time to catch the tune of hard German music like Rammstein or In Extremo then you'd probably also go around this one as well. Nevertheless, you should be prepared for heavy riffs and an immense display of electronic sound engineering. Take the sixth track "Antikörper". It's dark, creepy and feels like you've got an army marching to the voice of Wesselsky inside your head. Personally, it's very typical to me when listening to it from one end to another. Noel Pix does some very impressive sound programming making it all kind of goth rave-ish without making it into a techno track, especially noticeable on the seventh track "Entlassen". Nevertheless, if Wesselsky didn't add the balance of his vocals to the tracks, the whole album would be nothing but endless ambient rave, ready to be maculated.

Personally, I see "Antikörper" as a solid release worth mentioning to anyone who shares interest in electronic rock or at least German electrometal. All in all, most of it sounds like Depeche Mode meets Rammstein, both being great bands in my opinion, and maybe these elements create the basis for Eisbrecher's partially unique sound. I could easily imagine these songs being played around the darker scenes of Germany, the rest of Europe and Northern America. Possibly also Japan, since it wouldn't surprise me if that particular part of the world would see them as a European Visual Kei ensemble. Personally I'm looking forward in seeing more from these guys in the near future. A good album, a nice display of professionalism though it still lacks a bit of originality and is kind of repetitive when you have to listen it through, but all in all it deserves a promising grade.

Download: Antikörper, Entlassen
For the fans of: Rammstein, Depeche Mode
Listen: Official Myspace

Release Date 20.10.2006
AFM Records
Provided by Target ApS