Band: Macbeth
Title: Gotteskrieger
Label: Massacre Records
Distribution: Suburban
Release date: 24/07/2009
Review: CD

I don’t know how many bands are called ‘macbeth’. In Germany only, for example, I do know at least three bands with that very same moniker.
This review considers the East-German one, originally formed in 1985 (!) and therefore being one of the oldest bands from east-Germany (Erfurt, more specifically). In the early years, things were pretty complicated. The band’s popularity didn’t please the local authorities, the band underwent theft and loss, they did even need to change their name into the moniker of Caiman. And shortly after the fall of ‘the Wall’, singer Wittenburg committed suicide (he recently came out of jail), which marked the end for Macbeth (Caiman).
A first reunion took place in 1993, but unforeseen circumstances made it impossible to continue – another tragedy within this band’s history.
At the beginning of the new millennium, the band reformed for the second time, and this time it seems to work. After a first demo tape (with the inventive title Rebirth), a self-produced album, released in 2006 (also a compilation with old (era eighties) and live material was released that very same year through German Democratic Recordings) and a promo-demo last year (with three songs that also appear on this new album), the members (amongst them one of my favourite German drummers, Patrick W. Engel, from Impending Doom-fame [and many other bands]) released this new full length, which lasts for almost fifty minutes. And it won’t disappoint the fans at all!
Musically this album mainly continues the path of the early years, yet the whole just sounds better. The tracks are better constructed, the performance is stronger, and the sound, combining ‘old school’ with a modern touch, is perfect for this kind of material. All tracks are melodic and technical (the latter without being experimental), they come with an interesting, yet sometimes catchy, groove and a modest eighties-approach. At the same time, some tracks have something epic, while others come with a punkish-rocking attitude.
Result: must-have for fans of melodic and rhythmic old school Heavy / Thrash hymns with a modern approach…

80/100

Ivan Tibos.