The band play mainly Pop-Rock with the occasional Punk song thrown in and even the odd ballad. They use a lot of electronic effects, especially during intros and choruses some of which really add to a song but conversely there are some really odd sounds that don't sound right at all. They are also football mad which has an obvious influence on their music, two being TSV 1860 München fans and the other supporting their city rivals FC Bayern München.
Enclosed is a picture of the album cover,
As you can tell from this, if you're looking for 10 minute long epics then go look at an Iron Maiden review!
So, on to the actual review before those of you who haven't already fallen asleep do so.
1) Hörspiel
This is really just a spoken intro to the album so no need to review it really!
2) Lauth Anhören
The title is a word play between "laut" meaning loud and the name of a German footballer - ex 1860 München player Benjamin Lauth.
The fingerpicked intro leads into a chorus and then a dodgy electric sample and another chorus and so on until a bridge which is really the intro played again with some vocal effects and back to chorus. The song itself is quite good, Pop-Punk style lyrics with Pop-Rock music. 3.5/5
3) Ein Kleiner Schritt
Weird synthesised intro belies the fact that this is really a good song, I love the rolling bass over the verses and the way it fits into the chorus. The bridge however, is stammering in contrast and the whole song works really well. 4.5/5
4) Ungewöhnlich
This song is a little more fast and furious than the previous three and the verses actually sound like a German version of Busted (ie, no chord changes) but the chorus contrasts this well changing between minor chords with ease. This is another song which was been really well put together and sounds great. 4.5/5
5) Siehst du das genauso?
This was one of the singles off of this album and it's a really good ballad. The intro consists of a keyboard and acoustic guitar before vocals enter and the song goes through 2 verses and a chorus before the drums and distorted guitars enter, mostly in the background, you can still hear the keyboards and acoustic guitar loud and clear, a keyboard solo ensues and then a vocal only bridge before a couple of raised choruses and the song is over. This song is so catchy it's unreal and yet it still has some meaning. Brilliant 5/5
Here's a link to the video. You'll need Real player to view it. [URL=http://www.motor.de/_ram/video/sportfreunde_siehstdudas.ram?pageid=summary-results-in-boxster-wrapper]Siehst du das genauso?[/URL]
6) Frühling
Similar to Lauth Anhören in the intro which leads into stammering verse before distorted chorus. The bridge has some classical samples before a small guitar samples and a build up into a raised chorus, again, well put together. 4/5
7) In Name der Freundschaft
Palm-muted verses (no intro) lead into distorted chorus with background trumpets strangely enough but it works and gives a good song. 3.5/5
8) Andere Mütter
Oh dear! Absolutely rubbish intro ruins what is otherwise a perfectly acceptable song. Catchy refrain but still the intro ruins it as parts of it keep cropping up during verses. 3/5
9) Wir kommen (Was hier los ist!!!)
Bass intro leads into the nearest to punk chorus on the album yet the verses sound straight from a ska song so there is an obvious contrast here, doesn't sound like it took a long time to write but still is a good song, crap outro. 3.5/5
10) Was ich Behaupten kann
Another ballad in the form of Siehst du das genauso?. I like this song as it shows another dimension to the band. Really well written song that sounds like Coldplay and Keane rolled into one (in German of course!) with a solo thrown in for good measure. 5/5
11) Dirk, wie ist die Luft dort oben
Sounds like a bit of fun from the band, never meant to be a hit but perfectly good to fill an album out with. Another catchy chorus helps the song. 3.5/5
12) Ich, Roque
The title again includes the name of a footballer this time FC Bayern player Roque Santa Cruz who actually features in the song, providing the sample for the vocal "Ich, Roque" which always precedes the chorus which is adorned by another strange sample but it kinda works and the song itself is good so I'd give it 4.5/5
Here's a link to the video for this song. [URL=http://www.motor.de/_ram/video/sportfreunde_ichroque.ram?pageid=summary-results-in-boxster-wrapper]Ich, Roque[/URL]
13) 1.Wahl + Bonus track
The actual song 1.Wahl without bonus track is another single off the album and is really fast and punk like, and the bonus track itself really is just a filler for some extra play time on the album but together I'd give them 4/5
Overall
Overall I like this album a lot as it shows an obvious step forward from their previous album Die Gute Seite and has two ballads and two fast punk songs thrown in to add variety to the usual electro pop-rock and so I'd give it 4-4.5/5 for the genre it's in but if you don't understand German then a) what are you doing on this review! and b) it's probably not worth buying unless you liked both of the songs that I posted links to. Thanx for taking the time to read my review :thumb: .
