SCHELMISH
Incredibly enough, ‘Die hässlichen Kinder’ is Schelmish’s 8th album with the band’s inception being 2000. Although this full-length was released on Napalm Records, it would be clumsy to label Schelmish as any sort of metal band. Incorporating smatterings of folk, pop/punk and metal all embossed in medieval styling, these Germans offer something that certainly deviates from most other kinds of guitar-based music. The metal elements are the most ‘acceptable’, predominantly marking the albums with folk metal, not such a far cry from Eluveitie. Initially the pop/punk tendencies come across as juvenile but after repeated listens, they sit within the compositions beneficially. It captures the light-heartedness of such a band (the album’s translation is ‘The Ugly Children’) flawlessly. A bevy of unusual instrumentation is at the helm of Schelmish with the inclusion of bagpipes, a darbuka, a bouzouki and a cittern among others. The bagpipes frequently take a large role, as heard on ‘For the Clansmen’, perverting the standard metal composition. The atypical female backing vocals on ‘Strangers’, the dynamic ‘Mosaik’ and the serious, epic soundscapes of ‘Bist Du Bereit’ are methods that Schelmish utilise to avoid the listener losing focus on the album. The only issue with this album is its insistency in refusing to be coherently united as a whole. As noted earlier, opener ‘Bist Du Bereit’ sounds unflinchingly stern but is followed by a fart at the start of ‘Boulevard’. The insertion of a few different varieties of music appears randomly with no prior warning, almost as if the band has added them in for the sake of being discerning. Still, it is undisputed that this is a different, but amusing, album that must have been a helluva load of fun to write.
LABEL:
FORMAT:
Napalm Records
Album
DIE HÄSSLICHEN KINDER
Review by Elena Francis
RUNNING TIME:
59:55
RELEASE DATE:
2nd Nov 2009
TRACK LISTING
1) Bist Du Bereit; 2) Boulevard
3) Uberladen; 4) Too Late
5) Die Hasslichen Kinder
6) For The Clansmen; 7) 1212
8) Blahsucht; 9) Goresh
10) Sommer
11) Strangers
12) Sag Nur Ein Wort
13) Mosaik
14) Fur Euch
3) Uberladen; 4) Too Late
5) Die Hasslichen Kinder
6) For The Clansmen; 7) 1212
8) Blahsucht; 9) Goresh
10) Sommer
11) Strangers
12) Sag Nur Ein Wort
13) Mosaik
14) Fur Euch
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
Germany
"...this is a different, but amusing, album that must have been a helluva load of fun to write."