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Riefenstahl - Seelenschmerz |
I had been looking for this album for a very long time before I managed to find a copy, and understandably I was nervous that I wouldn’t end up liking it that much, especially considering the effort. Luckily, this fear w as groundless. Seelenschmerz is an excellent album, especially for a first effort. The sound itself is a mix of a variety of genres and other sounds, though the clearest influence that I could find is the later albums from the Böhse Onkelz, especially in the vocal delivery. Jens Esch, the vocalist, clearly sounds reminiscent of Kevin Russell from the Dopamin days. I could be wrong, but I believe the track 1001 Nacht is a tribute to the Onkelz album Ein böses Märchen.
While the primary delivery on this album is recognizably hard rock (Was ware wenn), there are elements of soft rock (Ich will dich nicht mehr), gothic and industrial metal (Ist es?), and more. I’m impressed that they could develop such a unique sound so early on, and while it doesn’t always click together perfectly, the potential here is very promising.
The songwriting also displays the occasional odd touch for a hard rocking band, most especially in the almost-ballad Ich will dich nicht mehr. Overall, I’m extremely impressed by these guys and I’m happy that my work was rewarded with such a great album. I expect great things from Riefenstahl, and I would highly recommend this album to any fan of harder music, German or otherwise.
Score:
Hompage: Refenstahl-music.com
Reviewer: Paul Gifford
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