Review Summary: Don't play me a punk song!
The world is unfair. It always has been. Just ask the Coyote, who has spent decades investing in high-end ACME technology only to be crushed by a boulder. Or Scrat, the eternal martyr of an acorn the universe insists on denying him. And since we’re talking about inevitable tragedies, ask also the national teams of the Netherlands in 1974 and Brazil in 1982 — two squads that played football as art and, by sheer cruelty of fate, ended up without lifting the trophy they deserved.
And here's another immense example of injustice in the Universe: Kontrust does not receive the proper knowledge or recognition from the global metal community.
And that’s almost criminal. Because while hundreds of bands take the safest path — repeating formulas, imitating influences, betting on “more of the same” — Kontrust chooses the opposite: organized chaos, absurd humor, unexpected fusion. They are that band you show to someone and the person asks: “Wait… this really exists?” Yes, it exists — and it exists way better than should be allowed.
Second Hand Wonderland, released in 2012, is the definitive proof. An album that sounds as if it were assembled inside a clandestine laboratory where someone mixed metal, polka, pop, Balkan rhythms, industrial, hip hop, and a sense of theatricality so enormous it would make Lordi ask them to “tone it down.” It’s a delicious mess, a sonic carnival so well executed that even people who hate “experiments” eventually give in.
The album opens the doors to its postmodern circus and simply never stops. Each track hits from a different direction: sometimes it’s a wall of guitars that could have come straight out of a nü-metal record; sometimes it’s an Austrian polka; sometimes it’s a bright pop chorus; sometimes it’s an industrial breakdown full of brass instruments and tribal percussion. There are moments that resemble Die Antwoord, others that feel like System of a Down in carnival mode, and others still that only an Austrian band determined to ignore the “how to make modern metal” manual could have created.
And much of this comes from the charismatic vocals of Agata Jarosz. Beside her, Stefan Lichtenberger works as the perfect counter-balance: aggressive when needed, comedic when it fits, and precise most of the time. The vocal duel is, by far, the album’s greatest asset.
The production on Second Hand Wonderland is very competent. The instruments all have space; the mix highlights the theatricality of the vocals. The guitars are thick and modern but never suffocate the rest; the samples fit like pieces of a carefully assembled puzzle; and when the choruses arrive, they explode with pop clarity without losing weight.
Highlight tracks
“Sock and Doll” opens the album like an electric circus act with hints of Rammstein. It has groove and vocal insanity.
“The Butterfly Defect” brings out the band’s poppier side, with a positive-message lyric. It’s not exactly what I usually enjoy listening to, but it’s nice to have this type of approach in alternative metal.
“Hey DJ”… come on… what is this track? “Hey DJ” is one of the most emblematic moments of Second Hand Wonderland — and also a perfect summary of the organized madness that defines Kontrust. It’s not just a song; it’s practically a musical sketch. It showcases the band’s most openly theatrical side, that absurd humor that feels like it came from a 2000s experimental musical performed by a troupe of hyperactive metalheads. The bass/drum groove under Agata’s verses is fantastic, and the chorus is pure heavy metal.
Verdict
Kontrust is not recommended for grumpy "true" metalheads who think everything must be death, demons, and anger. Not that I don’t enjoy all that — but sometimes it’s nice to just have fun and smile.
Second Hand Wonderland is one of those albums that defy explanation. Everything could have gone wrong — and absolutely everything goes right. It’s theatrical, exaggerated, and extraordinarily creative.
In a fair universe — where the Coyote wins a race, Scrat finally bites his acorn, and Brazil ’82 raises the trophy alongside the Netherlands ’74 — Kontrust would be one of the most celebrated bands in modern metal.
And this review at least fixes one injustice: opening the band’s very first review on Sputnik!
