It’s been a while now since the Limburg German punk band “4 Zimmer Küche Bad” released their album. Often heard and late ventured, you could say.
The sent vinyl of “Lasst Liebe regieren” already promised visually what it could hold/deliver in the end. But briefly pressed stop and back to the beginning:

The German punk scene is very excited right now and it’s easy to see why. So many exciting bands are permeating the scene and 4ZKB is one of those bands. Building on the solid foundation of their debut album “Eigentlich Müsste Man Mal“, this new work is a very impressive release.

13 hard-hitting songs, packed with hooks and earworms.
The title track takes no prisoners and sets the tone for the rest of the album.

We need to talk about the production for a moment. I have to admit that I wrote this review only based on the feel and emotion of the record and didn’t read any press release. The production is excellent.
Unfortunately, in this genre it can sometimes happen that the recording quality and production fall short compared to the quality of the musicians, but that isn’t the case here. Everything is clear and perfectly balanced in the mix, keeping the energy of the music intact.

The album is packed with energy, “Zuschauer” & “Egoland” stand out in particular.

But the really/real outstanding track of the album is “Licht aus der Vergangenheit“. An epic 5:14min long song that takes you on a rollercoaster ride.

So all in all a truly strong album, written by a very talented band and perfectly presented.

A must have for punks.

With man and mouse, or rather with man and rat, it goes to the start. The revised EP Bad Treatment, which was already released as an album in August 2016 with a slightly different line-up, now shows the spectrum of the new and since 2019 stable formation. Kick-Ass Rock from the North of Germany.

It opens with, of course, Kick-Ass Rock, that’s the way it is, that’s what you expect. With “Good Times” they skillfully treat you to their style. The sound is dirty; the voice pressed but not over the top and the arrangement kept coherent and short. An intro from the Ska area, a Jane’s Addiction tribute scream that directly introduces a guitar solo and off we go. It then continues at a similar pace, just under 100 BPM. With “Mirrors” the tension is kept and the kick-ass rock continues. The bass gives way to the interlude, in which the two guitars take over the solo parts. Once more into the chorus and with clinking discs the entertaining number fades out.

“Song for One” could be the sing along at live concerts. The song is produced in a clear and straightforward manner and, with the sing-along elements, is also suitable for short-term memory. The crunchy guitars take a back seat thanks to the Palm-Muted style of playing and so the vocals are the central element here. But here comes the weakness of the song, vocally it straddles. A mouse off the mark and the forced, pressed tonal attack do not harmonize very well. Overall, at 5:05 minutes, the piece is too long, especially since there is too little variation in the guitar department. Unfortunately, the very successful solo comes too late in the end.

“Seasons”, a ballad with a feature by the artist Jen starts with a clear acoustic guitar and lies in the ear like “Broken” by Seether feat. Amy Lee with a little 3 Doors Down in the mixdown. Jen’s voice is clear and present, front man “Eddy” also shows a calmer facet, even if the vocal timbre does not correspond to that of the typical ballad singer. But it becomes inconsistent when it is pressed and pressed again to suggest pressure in the chorus. Some like the dirty voice notation – for me personally the concept, the idea doesn’t really work here. A duet should harmonize unless it is explicitly designed differently. A dispute, a quarrel, opposites that gradually attract each other – it could work there. Here, however, that is not thematically the case. 5:20min the voices simply steal each other’s show and try to dominate each other. Unfortunately, no great romance arises in the ear here.

Let’s get back to the band’s strength, which is dynamic powerful rock. The title track “Bad Treatment” is entertaining with a very catchy riff and sound. Here the pressure in the voice fits, small EQ vocal playing, tapping and a solo that sounds really good supported by the drums. Eddy roars his vocal cords sore again and with the fading amp feedback ends a little more than 4-minute excursion into the kick-ass rock genre. The title is the highlight of the EP and leads over well to “Bitter Pills”. The head nods to the rhythm, the riff, catchy, as they say. It sounds voluminous and dynamic overall with a very dark ominous bridge that fits the mood well. But again, the overly pressed vocals are suboptimal.

“Leave Me Alone” struggles with similar problems, even if this is played with quite positively. In the interlude, the alternation between the ironic sounding voice and the rough pressed parts is a varied excursion and would be much more accentuated and harmonious, if the pressure in the chorus were to come through variations in the instrumental area beforehand.

In sum, less is more and strength and weakness of this record are quite clear here. The band sets itself a trap with ballads, but escapes it through its dynamic tracks. DAMN!ESCAPE must be seen live, the EP is not a real studio record, for that it lacks sensitivity in production and mastering. The mood, the intention of the band, the feeling of the songs on the EP – all this rather reflects live moments that you want to experience with them.

Deadlocked – 10 songs and 10 times with full force on the… ears. Reverse delivers with their current EP “Deadlocked” a short record that drives and is settled somewhere between punk rock / screamo, grunge and influences of metal.

But wait a minute… 10 songs and an EP? Yes, because the record is divided into two parts. Like many other bands, the “Ruhrpottler” of Reverse, got creative during the pandemic and offer the fans, additional to the original six songs, four bonus tracks. Part one was self-produced and part two is the 4-track compensation bonus, for an improper celebrated release – “Thanks Corona!” The latter part was already recorded in 2017 at Kurt Ebelhäuser (among others Donots – Coma Chameleon), but recently re-recorded and remixed.

But let’s start from the top: Briefly cleared throat and off it goes with the frontal attack on the vocal chords. 2:18 min runtime for the EP opener “Bored” and thus directly a statement is set. We don’t cuddle – rough, hard, angry and perhaps vocally a bit crude, but that’s what makes it. Reverse want to whoop it up and establish their attitude right away. “Omen” follows and is only a tad bit less angry than track 1, although the vocals in the beginning are a little, let’s call it “laid-back”. But then the vocal lips clench violently and crunch, quite in Reverse-manner, in unison with the guitars through the rest of the song.

“Goodbye” is a farewell song in hard punk garb, which probably would trigger a circle pit live and also is a short workout for band and audience with its 2:17min. But there are not only punches directly on the kisser – “Bitter Sweet” shows a calmer side and strings. The not so heavily distorted and effects overlaid guitars, meet with the distinctive voice and add up to a really interesting soundscape.

“At the Edge Of The World” is probably the most grunge-like song, which already almost seems radio conform and provides some intermediate elements of good variety over the runtime of 3:16 min. The Unofficial final song of the EP “Suicidal Happiness“, is a snotty, angry track that is played fast and driving and pauses only briefly – letting us catch our breath just for a second to then shred on with full energy towards the end.

And then there would be the B-side, the bonus side from “Distress&Control“, which despite the hard playing and singing style seems more affable and mature, but not necessarily better – just a bit different. The enormously hard, almost dirty and raw sound suits the band very well. Nevertheless, a good idea to pack these B-tracks with it – The tracks “Haunted Heart“, “Harley’s Smile” and “Fake” remind us somewhat of Nirvana‘s “Bleach” and Refused‘s “Everlasting” and thus somehow of grunge and hardcore, but now in snotty angry.

After their debut “Hunger” (2018), the second work of the Kiel band “The Pinpricks” was released in 2020. Driven by the rough voice of frontwoman Ronja, rousing guitar riffs and coherent sound, the trio convinces with straightforward hard rock. Also lyrically the three know how to convince and so their song lyrics revolve several times around the title “Bait”. The recordings took place in the Boogie Park Studio in Hamburg, in which the predecessor was also created.

Cast off your shadow
A fast powerful hard rock number, the perfect introduction and a highlight of this EP. A video was also released for this song.

Get out
Without a pause for breath, it goes on to the next song and this one rocks tremendously as well.

Voices
A mid tempo number with a strong chorus and definitely another highlight for me. A video was also released for this song.

Million Pieces
The longest, slowest and most melancholic song convinces with atmosphere and soulful vocals.

Paintless
Another hard rock song enriched with light psychedelic elements.

Two-Wheeler Blues
With a little more than two minutes running time the shortest song on the EP, a classic rock song straight to the point. Looking forward to the live version and another highlight of this EP.

Foxy Lady
The original was written by Jimi Hendrix for his debut album “Are you experienced” (1967) and released as a single in the same year. Although cover versions, because of the comparisons with the original, are always to be enjoyed with a certain caution, this version simply rocks. Musically and vocally simply very well implemented. Definitely another highlight of this EP.

Get out (Acoustic Version)
The acoustic version of “Get out” is unfortunately the weakest number of the EP for me. I might have expected more here.

Versions:
Besides the digital version, the EP is also available on vinyl and CD. Shop now!

A very good EP with many highlights and the perfect bait to become a fan of this band.

A.Y.N. stands for “Are You Ninja”. The title could not be more aptly chosen for the “fathers of Ninja Rock”, a style mix in Rock’n Roll, which is located somewhere between Stonerrock, Blues and Grunge. The EP includes a total of four elaborately produced tracks, all of which were recorded and produced by Martin William Ross (vocals, guitar) and Piergiorgio Ciarla aka PJ (drums, vocals). The very accentuated precise playing of guitar and drums, as well as the sonorous voice with high recognition value, harmonize very well across all songs. This high-quality produced record combines in itself the most diverse moods.

With “Go“, the first track, you get the feeling that this track was written for festivals. It is not only perfect as an EP opener, but also for every live stage. It immediately pulls you into its rhythmic spell and you catch yourself, how not only your foot starts to bob in time, but your whole body wants to maneuver itself in the direction of a dance floor, to give there the rusted dance moves to the best. “Go” also directly delivers a small homage to their formative time in France. A female computer voice counts in the song in French – a nice interpretation of the classic beat. Go is peppered with many small, but very purposefully used sound fragments. So you hear here not only harmonically adjusted guitar effects like flanger, chorus and reverb, which support an almost synthetic guitar crunch, also the play with reverb and EQ fit perfectly on the vocals and thus round off the sound carpet. The entertaining 3:17 min are rounded off with the initially established computer voice, which bids us farewell with À bientôt (See you soon!), before it moves on to the next track without a long break.

In keeping with the song name, “Apocalypse Boogie” opens more somberly. Wind sweeps through the land, a Zippo® click and a short pull on the butt epochally introduce this 3:28 min excursion that sometimes reminds us of the great combo Muse. With this song they are in no way inferior to the great band in musical sophistication. Driving beat, cheeky vocal accents, here and there a few supporting sound effects and guitar riffs that carry through the song and provide with shrill slides again and again for artistic accents.

With “Chemical Courage” you immediately feel transported to one of those typical American movie bars. The song fits incredibly well with a tracking shot past dark figures playing pool, a grim looking bearded rocker sipping his drink at the bar, fogged by thick smoke and a couple of guys hitting on the tattooed hotties. And in the background, elevated on stage: “Rival Karma” performing this song. Fits like a glove! Blues and Southern Rock elements paired with dirty guitar sound and distorted voice make the song very atmospheric and increases with each new section. From long drawn out single notes to the grande finale, which consists of a sound firework of several guitar tracks and drums.

Song No 4: “Wasting time” could be described as the good mood number of the record, which leads through the good 4 min with clap elements, a clear voice and a somewhat more discreet guitar in the first verse. Equipped with a progressive intermediate part and a break that could not be better placed, this song ends the EP worthy – fulminant.

“Is this the End of the world or is this just the beginning? “, Martin asks in “Apocalypse Boogie”. For us to answer quite clearly: The Beginning!