Review Summary: Anni is not okay.
Is Anni really Ok? MJ did not have that answer. I do not have that answer and if you are looking for the answer here, it is nowhere to be found. All that you will find is a by the numbers release that offers little variance or anything new to an over saturated genre.
Annisokay have always been a band that I have taken notice of, but never really paid a great deal of attention to. They fall under the category of that Pop/Metal/Post-Hardcore type of band like Dead By April or Amaranthe, however they seem to be missing the ‘spark’ that makes those bands work.
Lead by guitarist/clean vocalist Christoph Woeczorek, the band try their best to combine catchy melodies, atmospheric electronics, chugging guitars, and brutal screams to make a nice mixture of Pop Metal. However, the catchy melodies are just not there. I can only imagine what the track ‘The Tragedy’ might have sounded like in the hands of Pontius Hjelm. Unclean vocalist Rudi does his best at holding down the ‘Brutal’ sections, but they come across as forced and his screams stay pretty much in the middle register for much of the album with little to no variance.
Some tracks are almost there, ‘The Cocaine’s Got Your Tongue’ has a nice attempt at rapping but lyrically it’s not good (more on that soon), ‘Overload’ is as good as they get on the poppy side with a fantastic chorus and ‘I Saw What You Did’ has the heaviest and easily the best riffing on the album.
The main downside you will find here are the lyrics. It’s not about being lost in translation from German to English either. It’s about the cringy content matter and the illusion that what they are saying matters. ‘Bonfire of the Millennials’ being the biggest culprit here. Maybe it’s just me but anyone who mentions ‘Baby Boomers’ in a song in a uncomedic or unironic way is really awkward. I know what they were trying to go for, but they missed the mark. ‘Under Your Tattoos’ and ‘The Cocaine’s Got Your Tongue’ also try hard but just come across as slightly embarrassing and childish – which is weird cause they are well into their 30’s.
I like this style of music, genuinely so I’m not against the Poppy metal, in fact the more Pop the better in most cases for me, but here Annisokay just did not do it for me. I’ll stick to their covers EP of MJ tracks, cause at least they are all very well written songs.
