| CD REVIEW Beehoover |
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Band : Beehoover This Esslingen (about 10 km east from the centre of Frankfurt) based German band is really something else, and it somehow pains me that this is the first I've heard of this wacky Stoner/ Doom duo. But then again, a lot of people have not heard of this band yet...an injustice which we will strive to change! Yes, just a duo, consisting of bassist/ lead singer Ingmar Petersen (main songwriter & lyricist) and drummer/ backing singer Claus-Peter Hamisch (recording & mixing engineer, something which he also does for other bands) both also active as the rhythm section of German Traditional Doom act Voodooshock. However, it would be unfair to call Beehoover the duo's “side-project”, since its activities predate that of the guys' other band. In their beginning days the guys actually looked for a suitable guitarist and singer to complete their band, but somehow things never worked out with those whom applied. Well, their debut 2004 demo was actually done with an additional singer, an by the time that guy left (or was asked to leave, I'm not sure) the duo had settled in their ways of doin' everything on their own. Totally in sinc with each other, whatever comes out of either one of the two is Beehoover, and exactly what the two had always wanted, so why complicate matters by adding meddlesome additional band members, when they're very capable of doing everything on their own in the first place? In their own words, there's too many influences to do 'em all justice in a list of bands, but most certainly there's a strong love of Krautrock in the songwriting (minus the “laissez faire” attitude) and technically spoken, a whole lot more bass! There's signs of Heavy Psychedelica as well as Americana, and of course there's heavy influence from all things Doom and its establishing forefather Black Sabbath. But then Beehoover lifts itself up to the realms of Avant Garde Doom and Jazz with a progressive touch. With the album already out for a couple of months (sorry about that...we've gotten the promo album after the facts, and although I'd already noticed it in the website's “to do” box, and read favourable reviews, I felt I had to leave it to our specialist in the genre. However, he somehow failed to recognize it for what it was, and the promo lingered in the box for several weeks before I snatched it out of it...lucky bastard me!), it's been getting rave reviews from all over Europe (see excerpts in blogs at the band's MySpace page), but that's not what convinced me of the qualities of this duo! Nay, it's the music, and the guys' incredible nack at changing intensities, that done it! In all its simplicity, you don't even miss a guitar in the band's heavier moments, because what comes out of the drums/bass synergy (thanks to a prolific style of songwriting) are catchy tunes which balance between melancholy, despair, and anger. During the calmer passages, when there's not even drumming, I suspect one of the two guys to pick up an acoustic guitar (because that's what it sounds like, you know!), but there's no mention of the use of such an instrument at all, so I'm left to believe that a bass can be made to sound just like an acoustic guitar, then? By the way, there's also passage (check “The Dragonfighter”) where the only instrument played is the drums, underlined by dual singing (nice, nice!!!). To convince yourself of this German duo's outstanding qualities, all you need do is check out the songs posted at either myspace.com/beehoover, or the media section at the band's own website (www.) beehoover.com (both feature the same songs and video). Yeah, I love, and I concur with some of the aforementioned reviewers that Beehoover is a band worthy of breaking through internationally! Yoo-haa, another “Best Albums Of 2010”-list addition (let's skip the nomination bit all together for this one!). 98/100 Tony. |