Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 03/13/2007
Klagebilder opens with the instrumental title track, a surprising stylistic detour for this long-running German
goth metal band; it's not even the usual pretty, proggy keyboard-based interlude one often finds on
goth metal albums, but a slice of full-on
downtempo electronica that wouldn't sound out of place on an
Air or
Stereolab album. Following that, things move into more traditional
metal territory, but there's a distinctly
pop-oriented cast to much of the album.
"Kein Liebeslied," for example, features a catchy, harmony heavy chorus that recalls '80s
pop-metal acts like
Whitesnake or
Skid Row, and
"Kaltes Feuer" and
"Hollenbrand" blend heavy guitar riffs with synthesizer pulses straight out of vintage
New Order. Some subsets of the
metal audience will no doubt be somewhat put off by this album, which is almost entirely lacking in the signifiers one expects of European
metal these days -- the singer doesn't even sound much like the Cookie Monster -- but
Klagebilder is an interesting updating of
metal tropes from a couple of decades previous.
~Stewart Mason, All Music Guide
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