Strong plate without major blemishes

"Rock The Rebel / Metal The Devil" marked my first contact with the Danish band Volbeat. Given the great hype about the troupe, which began in the relevant media already with the debut of "The Strength / The Sound / The Songs", I admit that I was initially a little disappointed. My (unrealistic) expectations were that each song would ignite immediately on first listen. The is by far not so - fortunately, because that the half-life of the album is in my opinion much higher. In retrospect, it seems to me the majority of the praise but to be quite justified. Volbeat actually manage such diverse ingredients as Heavy Metal (and "Heavy" is here truly no understatement), rockabilly rhythms, punk and country bonds and a charismatic, a little reminiscent of a mixture of Elvis Presley and James Hetfield's voice to combine into a very own, interesting sound. Incidentally shimmer from the death metal roots of band founder Michael Poulsen and by a little. Of course, this is all a matter of taste, but the success of the band are pretty and they manage actually to recruit fans from different genres.

This fall in my ears only three of the eleven songs in the category "once heard immediately fixed in the head": The second single release "The Gardens Tale" offers a beautiful, ballad-like beginning, after the pace but increases. A catchy song, in which mainly the strong duet between Michael Poulsen and guest vocalist Johan Olsen impressed. Even the partially put forward in Danish Text like. In a similar category also "Radio Girl", a kind of Seventies rockers who simply makes good mood and you will find it hard to get rid of falls. The overheating on this record but the Johnny Cash affine "Sad Mans Tongue". Here Volbeat make clear how a deep bow to an idol can be perfectly implemented without copying the original. An intro with acoustic guitars is facing a transition with double-bass, heavy guitars and an immediately joinable in the singing chorus, to the charismatic body of Poulsen, who is based in this beautiful piece on the phrasing of Johnny Cash.

But the rest of the tracks are very well done. For example, the opener "The Human Instrument" begins with gentle sounds before it goes neatly with Pantera-moderate riffing to the point. To loosen Country deposits are interspersed, overall the piece is but extremely heavy and a well chosen opening. Much darker is what "Mr & Mrs Ness" to the point - the song is located more in the mid-tempo with occasional outbreaks. Also rather dark: "Devil Or The Blue Cat's Song", but which is also outstanding catchiness. Another consistently compelling song is "Soulweeper # 2" in which the punky side of the band is very good effect.

The remaining four pieces contain no failure, only "A Moment Forever" I do not like too well, even with repeated listening nothing is hanging from it. Real fracture is but none; Nevertheless, not everything that glitters is gold. The biggest problem seems to be that a certain wear effect adjusts after some time when it comes to the sound Volbeat. The song structure is indeed consistently well managed, but the nature is no different, as Michael Poulsen sings, with most tracks too much. His voice is quite variable, but the vocals seem to be emotionally always created very similar. Here the Danes need to exercise a bit of caution, so that there are no signs of fatigue.

Overall, the panel is entitled, the not exactly elegant sounds, but nevertheless true, in any case very strongly. Especially the mix of genres is the attraction at Volbeat; Anyone who is a bit open to various influences, can safely access here.