Band : The Other

Album title : The Place To Bleed

Label : Fiend Force

Distributor : Sonic Rendezvous

Release date : 23/05/2008

Release : CD

Influenced by the likes of Misfits, Samhain, Danzig, The Damned, Poe, King, Lovecraft, Ketchum, Stevenson, and classic horror movies,Koln based German HorrorPunk act The Other was spawned from the mind of Fiend Force Records CEO Rod Usher on Hallow's Eve 2002...as a logical follow-up to having gone through (undead) life as Mistfits covers band Ghouls for a couple of years.

The band (current line-up consisting of Usher as lead singer, guitarist/ backing singer Sarge von Rock, bassist/ backing singer Migore Drake, and drummer Dr. Caligari) has issued an album every two years, following 2004's They're Alive up with 2006's We Are Who We Eat, an album which is still selling like crazy (in Fiend Force terms) worldwide. The Other have shared the stage with artists such as Balzac, Bela B. (of Germany's legandary Punk band Die Ärtze), Mad Sin, Meteors, Misfits, RealMcKenzies, The Adicts, The Cult, The Damned, The 69 Eyes, Wednesday 13 and many others, toured like mad, and have taken their music out of Germany to not only the usual West-European countries, but also to the Czech Republic, Ireland and England, and the US. The heavy work-load paid off, as most scene publications as well as some journals took notice of the German Ghoul quartet. A video made for the track "Lover's Lane", featuring popular German Porn star Leonie Saint, was aired on German National television, and the band's first comic book Tales From The Other (released in 2007) made it into the homes of comic and horror fans alike! Also, it lead to over 15,000 fans registered at MySpace, the band's own fanclub counting over 1500 members, and at current date the band has earned themselves endorsements from Coffin Case, Schecter Guitars, Paiste cymbals, Crate guitaramps, Evans drumheads, Warwick, Hot Picks USA,and Plan 916 custom guitars.

The band is now ready for another hatchet strike attack with their latest 14-track offering (with a total listening time of 46 ½ minutes), of which 5 songs were posted at myspace.com/theother (where you'll also find an mp3 file and video for the aforementioned "Lover's Lane"). As you will find out from listening to the posted tracks, The Other utilize a slightly Metal-ised Punk Rock alà Bad Religion, which is more Punky when played at higher speeds and closer to Metal at a slower pace. The lead singer has a very specific vocal signature which is apparently appealing to both Goth and HorrorPunk people...and which brings forth the comparison to Misfits (or Danzig if you like, because both those bands have the same lead singer – Glenn Danzig – whom I've always despised somewhat for his look-what-a-bunch-of-mussles-I-have tough guyimage...an opinion which I've never really changed, in spite of having bought several albums by his bands over the years), and on top of the "normal" backing vocals, you also get quite a lot of oho-ho backings...which eventually become somewhat of a trademark for the band. One stand-out track is not posted, and that's "Der Tot steht dir gut"...which evidently has German lyrics. An additional feature about the song is the sudden female backing vocals, which even evolve in a complete solo verse...but for which I have found no credit what-so-ever.

With my remark about Danzig in mind you're probably not surprised to find this album rated so moderately (in comparison to my usual high ratings), but I have to say I find Usher's singing style to be somewhat less offensive than that of his idol. Anyway, in the end music is always a personal thing where the appreciation of it is concerned, and this band's music is quite nice indeed, every song having a great hook and a good portion of melody to boot! On top, I find the fact of alternating song paces quite refreshing indeed!

86/100

Tony.