JBO
11
(AFM Records)
German party animals JBO (James Blast Orchester) are back with (as the heading declares) their eleventh studio recording since their ’95 debut Explizite Lyrik. According to Metal Storm, these guys have stayed around a 6 or 7 (out ot 10) score range throughout their career, which would round out to the score I’ve given them here. The band have been playing parody rock and metal for years, with this record being no different. Some of the albums have been in complete English, but the gist of them are in German, which can be a sort of issue because non-German speakers won’t usually get the jokes. I’ve never been one to place cultural boundaries around music, but in such a case where the vocals are a large part of the act, it has always been a rough sell for me. I had the same issues with their last release, Killeralbum and almost feel that this German export might just work better in Europe… almost.
Yet, if we choose to take these guys based on the music in general, (with no real idea as to what some of the songs are about) the record then takes on a completely different experience. Aside from the many spoken word sections on the disc, you’re looking at forty minutes of musical material with several different styles beyond what you might expect from even a metal album. It’s tough to even call this one metal, since they experiment with so many other approaches here. There’s the pounding Priestly vibe of “Wir Lassen Uns Das Blodeln Nicht Verbieten” which even takes on a bit of power metal and the chorus and should impress fans without having to get the joke. The same can kind of be said for the almost nursery rhyme meets punk nature of “Panzer Dance.” Then we have the light-hearted, yet chunky vibe of “Metaller” which goes into a piece called “Ich Hatt Gern Mehr” that almost seems like Rammstein crossing with Weezer. A powerfully catchy chorus comes into view around “Wacken Ist Nur Einmal Im Jahr” which proves one of the strongest moments on the whole album for me. “Verliebt” takes on a bit of a soft indie rock vibe, which almost sees the band taking a sharp turn into the realm of emo, yet with some more folk influence and some obvious weirdness. I’d certainly prefer to this to Dashboard Confessional though, I can say that much. I’d like to hunt down every member of that act and run them over with a farm tractor, but that’s not important right now. (Makes mental note in “The Grim List.”)
A bit of Russian folk comes into place when “Jetzt Ist Halt Heut” takes the stage, unexpectedly getting my attention with a nearly sinful amount of catchiness. “Funf Minuten” sounds a little like hair metal with some rather weird vocal sections. To the untrained ear, it might sound like “Fur Fig-Newton” which also works for me. Whether or not the track is about a cookie or time, you’ll definitely get a rise out of it regardless. Right after that, we have something that really surprised me by the name of “Har Har Har” which is essentially a cover of ZZ Top’s “La Grange” (one of the best rock songs of all time) with some interesting additions. One in particular I actually found innovative, though I’m not sure if it would ever be repeated in a serious act, nor if it should. During the solo section, a female vocalist mimics each section of the solo with a moan. If you continue to listen, you’ll notice her trying to capture some of the sections in what nearly begins to sound like an orgasm, purely because of the ferocity in which the guitar solo is being played. This made a weird science experiment form into my noggin and now I have to know if it’s possible for a woman to mimic the entire solo section of Megadeth’s “Hangar 18” entirely in vocal moans. There’s another indie style cut called “Nurnberg Groove” which sounds like a commercial venture, as “Soderla!” just works to confuse me with it’s rapping and oddly heavy ending. The disc ends out with “MFN For JBO” which brings in Nu-Metal and rap. These guys made a couple of songs like that back in the day, so it’s interesting to hear their return to this style as it crawls back out of the ground for one final round of Jnco wearing, spiky haired angst.
11 shows us that JBO haven’t changed and aren’t going anywhere. A disc that still maintains it’s humor while being remarkably catchy, it’s certainly worth checking out even if you don’t understand the language and can’t get the jokes. Something can also be said for the amount of different territory covered here, almost making it like a German version of Weird Al, except with some metallic elements here and there. They might be a little older, but their penchant for immaturity certainly hasn’t changed. The same might be said of myself.
Purchase 11 here: iTunes | Physical
