| CD REVIEW The Antikaroshi |
 |
Band : The Antikaroshi This Potsdam based German trio was founded in 2007, and I've been wondering whether that geographical origin (the town is situated some 20 km South-East from the centre of Berlin, and used to be firmly in former East-German territory) is possibly at the basis of the band members' secrecy about their identities. All of 'em being thirty-somes, they have band experiences goin' back some 20 years, and one of 'em even played in Punk bands (Paperkrieg and AG Geige among others) in days when you had to be careful about the explicitivity of the message you were sending out. So, in Spring 2007 guitarist/ singer/ keyboardist Thea and bassist/ singer/ keyboardist Ntic were taking a break from their former band, and asked long-time befriended drummer Aroshi to join 'em, as they all shared a common taste for the DC Post Hardcore style of the mid-eighties. Thea and Ntic found it amusing to pick up the thread from where they left it, and as it so happened, the last song they'd written for their previous band was one titled “The Antikaroshi”...so this became the new bandname. After some rehearsals the guys had enough material to record a 4-track demo during summer, and play a first decent concert in support of friends Diario on October 13! In February 2008 the band was again in a studio, recording the material which was later to surface as their debut full-length Crushed Neocons...and in May the guys undertook a first 10-day tour through Germany and the Czech Republic. Enter one Andreas Kohl (of Exile On Mainstream), whom offered the band to promote their demo-CD, in an effort to find a label for 'em. That same guy then invited the band to play at his South Of Mainstream festival, and right after that show he offered the band a deal to release their album through EOM, the event occurring in late February 2009. Around the same time they partook in the blisstrain(that's some sort of organized German tour, which enabled the trio to get acquainted with some of the newest bands on the label) and during Summer they hit the road again as support to Enablers, something which the trio would repeat any time, and in a heartbeat. Before jumping on a new blisstrainearly this year, the band secluded themselves in a studio to record the 10 song for their sophomore full-length! Apparently, the trio have relished in finding quite a few reviewers of their debut album either liking what they heard, or at least being confused by it...and as this was my introduction to the band I might as well admit that for some scarce moments I belonged to the second group, for a while! Then things dawned on me: the DC Post-Hardcore thing is merely the basis the guys use (and a rather versatile one at that, using both angular tempo changes and progressive build-ups to make a song work), upon which they add tiny little details, like the keyboard sounds (one song even being rather completely a keyboard thing), and short samples (those quite diverse, either from documentaries or movies, in both German and English). Vocally, there's also some variety as, to begin with, we're dealing with two singers, each of which can either use his voice rather cleanly, or go a bit harsher, towards a semi-shout (a good thing neither of 'em screams, because that would've diminished the outcome). Obviously, the band will never be able to perform their music like we can hear it on the album, as it's quite evident that they used overdubs (a keyboard extra where the other instruments are already in use – granted, that one could be handled with foot pedals, or even pre-recorded playback – or a second guitar riff/ lead passage elsewhere...) in plenty of their songs...but even so that doesn't take away the fact that this is one real good album which I've enjoyed aplenty and hope to revisit in the near (or faraway) future! Fans of the whole DC-type of Post-Hardcore, or people into Progressive music in general (and let's not use the affix “Metal”, “Rock”, or “Punk” for once) should definitely give the tracks (3 off the both albums) posted at myspace.com/theantikaroshi a listen. Enjoy, and keep in mind I'm nominating per/son/alien into my year-lists! Vinyl freaks can rejoice in the fact that the album is also available in their favourite type of music carrier, but will have to hurry to get a copy, as only 300 are made worldwide! Me, I'm gonna try to get one...and a copy of this great band's debut as well! 98/100 Tony. |