Review Summary: An excellent effort for a worn out genre.
Germany is probably more famous musically for it’s obsession with David Hasselhoff and Rammstein than with 4Lyn on an international level. The band is hugely popular in its homeland but overseas, despite singing in english, the band is as obscure as they come. This is such a shame, as the band, despite a couple of weak debut albums, has been making strides in improving its’ hard rock sound.
Released in 2006, Compadres is the band’s 4th album overall, and in this writer’s opinion, their strongest album yet. I would also have no problem saying that it’s one of the best hard rock/nu-metal albums I’ve ever heard, and believe me I’ve heard them all (oh high school… happy days). It’s just an honest to God great rock album.
The band made the conscious decision to produce the album themselves, resulting in a harsh and raw sound to the album, along with quite a bit of variety to each song. The guitars have a bizarre buzzing sound to them, while singer Braz alternates between clean singing, screaming, and rapid fire rap (which was previously a weakness… it has been much improved on this album... and it doesn't happen too often!). The album manages to sound simultaneously low rent and big budget… impressive.
Each song is unique, yet consistent to the album as a whole. ‘Last Man Standing’, a song about boxing, could easily pass off as Korn’s earliest and strongest material (and singer Braz eerily sounds like Jon Davis during the chorus). Track 2, ‘Drrty Rokka’, which has hilariously juvenile lyrics, is a fun and angry track to bang your head to and trash your room. As I mentioned before, variety is a key word to the album. It veers from satirical (the aforementioned Drrty Rokka, closer ‘Outta Here’), to anthemic and rousing (‘New Breed’), to balls out pissed off (the massive sounding ‘Bugs In Head’, the blurry freak out 'Phoenix Takeover'), to introspective and beautiful (‘Even’, the best song here).
At 15 tracks, Compadres can sometimes be a demanding listen, and a little trimming would not have hurt. I really could have done without ‘Asshole of the Week’, a hookless bluster of singer Braz shouting the song title over and over again. Thankfully it’s just one small blemish to an otherwise well done album. There also some cliched lyrics ("2006/Still controlled by clueless politics!") but it's nowhere near prevalent as their previous albums, as the band gets poetic and honest in many of the tunes.
I mentioned ‘Even’ as the best song here, and I wasn’t kidding. It has a crushing, massive chorus, balanced with beautiful, atmospheric verses, and wonderful lyrics. The production is also excellent, totally easy to get lost into. Anyone who loves a good hard rock ballad will appreciate this song… extremely well done, and damn near perfect.
4Lyn decided to head a completely different route with their follow-up, 2008's hook filled and radio friendly "Hello". However, if you’re looking for one of the better representations of a clichéd and worn out genre, I highly suggest Compadres for a listen. If you appreciate this sort of music, you won't be disappointed.
