Genre/Influences: Goth-metal.

Background/Info: Throughout the years Spielbann has acquired a serious reputation in their homeland (Germany) and became a respected band from the Trisol roster. Their new opus is inspired by fairytales and stories, which have been reworked and transposed into the goth-metal universe of the band. Notice by the way that Alexander Spreng (ASP) contributed to the lyrical content and co-produced the album.

Content: The new work reveals the growing maturity of Spielbann. They remain faithful to their gothic atmospheres and metal guitar riffs, but they gained in global power. The biggest evolution is the increased orchestral arrangements injecting extra volume to the sound. It creates a kind of ‘cathedral’ sound effect while on the other side they also hold onto more refined piano-like arrangements.

The work is powerful and also moves towards pure melancholic passages. I also noticed some folk influences and even cinematographic parts.

+ + + : “Die Ballade Von Der Blutigen Rose” covers an impressive canvas of goth-metal music, which has been mixed with a few more influences. It’s a diverse and artistic opus, but also an overwhelming production. The orchestral element of the work sounds great while I still like the subtle and more polished arrangements. Spielbann remains a typical German goth-metal formation, but the global evolution in sound makes the music accessible for a wider (non-German) audience. Just pay attention for the opening cut featuring great female backing vocals or “Hertz Der Finsternis” revealing a great finale.

– – – : I can’t really find minus points for this work, which says enough about the quality of this album.

Conclusion: Without a shadow of a doubt, “Die Ballade Von Der Blutigen Rose” is the best Spielbann album thus far. This is a powerful and beautiful release!

Best songs: “Hier Kommt Dein Tag”, “Herz Der Finsternis”, “Der Volle Mond Steht Übern Wald”, “Meerjungfrauenbeine”.

Rate: (8).

Band: www.speilbann.de / www.facebook.com/Spielbann

Label: www.trisol.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Trisol–Music–Group/104166526285471

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Goth-rock, metal-rock.

Background/Info: Spielbann last year joined Trisol to unleash their official debut album “In Gedenken”, which revealed a mature writing and an interesting twist between the influences. “Wiedergänger” reveals new songs, and also older tracks that have been reworked and several live versions.

Content: The 3 new songs take off sound in the line of their previous work. There’s a noticeable harmony between their main sources of inspiration moving from gothic to dark-rock to metal. The songs have been accomplished with some epic arrangements and piano sequences. The vocals are sung in their Mother tongue (German) revealing male- and female parts.

Spielbahn moves in between harder and somewhat menacing cuts and a softer and more moody, sensible format. The reworked songs sound in a similar way while you now and then will notice a solid guitar solo passage and a shimmering influence of Rammstein.

The live part features 7 songs. This is an opportunity to rediscover songs from their previous album, but this time live. There again is a move from harder and merciless cuts towards moodier and even sensitive passages. One thing is for sure, this band clearly sounds like a mature live formation. The songs are carried by charismatic vocals, furious guitar riffs, a devilish cadence and some real elegance.

+ + + : Spielbann features all required elements to ravish an audience devoted to gothic, rock & metal music. They seem like they feel comfortable composing harder cuts on one side and sensitive tracks on the other. Another interesting element is the well-crafted live versions of a few songs. Last, but not least, Trisol takes once more care to release an artistic digipak featuring 2 booklets, which will ravish the fans.

– – – : Even if Spielbann self-released 2 albums before their official debut, I didn’t exactly expect a new opus  to feature so many live versions and only 3 ‘new’ songs. The reworked songs are not exactly the most convincing part of the work.

Conclusion: If you want to discover a new and typical German formation, I would highly recommend you to put your hands on the album “In Gedenken” and if you became a fan of this work, you’re going to love “Wiedergänger”.

Best songs: “Aquarell O Malstrom”, “Monster, Monster – Lange Nacht Fassung”, “Geister, Die Ich Rief – Live”.

Rate: (7).

Band: www.spielbann.de / www.facebook.com/Spielbann

Label: www.trisol.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Trisol–Music–Group/104166526285471

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Goth-rock, dark-rock.

Content: Spielbann is a German combo consisting of 5 members. The band has already been active for several years and has self-released previous albums. Joining an established and leading label like Trisol for sure must be one of the biggest consecrations for the band thus far.

I have to say I’m not surprised to see Spielbann joining the Trisol roster. They have these typical German underground sound mixing elements of gothic-and rock music, which became a kind of Trisol’s trademark. And that’s not all because the front man of ASP (Alexander Spreng) contributed to this album by writing a few lyrics, taking part to some songs and getting involved in the global production process.

Spielbann also has this typical German attraction for the sound and the language. When visiting the homepage of the band it quickly becomes clear that Spielbann is a band that mainly focuses on the German-speaking scene(s). It’s a pity there’s no information in English at their site, but I’m not here to complain about their site, but just paying attention for their sound.

It becomes rapidly clear that Spielbann is a professional sounding band featuring experienced musicians. The guitar playing is one of their main strengths and the multiple solo parts clearly will satisfy lovers of gothic-, metal- and rock music. Spielbann is shaking all these influences together while the finishing touch at most of the songs consist of refined electronic arrangements injecting a sweet taste of melody. That’s quite important during the choruses, which this way is mixing the power of guitar and subtlety of electronics.

There’s a kind of dark-romantic impression emerging from the songs and I here mainly refer to “Geister, Die Ich Rief”. Another attention grabber is “In Alle Ewigkeit” where electronics and other instruments become totally one.

This work is alternating harder cuts and dreamy passages. Spielbann even explores a kind of truly ballad style on “Aquarell”, which appears to be a beautiful sound canvas on, which you can dream away. This sensation is reinforced by the sound of the seagulls at the end of the song. The last part of the work reveals a few more dreamy cuts. “Lebewohl” is another beautiful cut in the genre, which reveals a poignant dark and gothic-like reverie.

A last, but essential element about this band and album is the production of the vocals. The band features male- (Seb Storm) and female vocals (Nic Frost), which mainly create beautiful duo parts. It’s not exactly the usual ‘fight’ between harsh male vocals and heavenly female vocals. The singers are absolutely complementary, but in a different and more symbiotic way. This fusion comes especially through at “Hydra”.

Conclusion: I’m quite confident Spielbann will slowly conquer a wider fan base in their homeland. This is a real professional work. The only regret maybe is the absence of an absolute potential hit.

Best songs: “In Alle Ewigkeit”, “Hydra”, “Auferstehung”.

Rate: (Elise Din:7)Elise Din.

Band: www.spielbann.de / www.facebook.com/Spielbann

Label: www.trisol.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Trisol-Music-Group/104166526285471

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com