Review Summary: An enjoyable dose of hardcore punk with a metallic edge to it. Very inessential but worth a listen nonetheless.
Ever since its birth in the late 1970’s, punk rock has been a popular genre in Germany, spawning countless bands, a pattern that continues today. Despite this, the scene has never produced any household names (even in Japan where they tend to be most popular) and continues as an underground phenomenon. Bonehouse formed in 1993, and joined a number of emerging bands at that time that were bringing metal influences into their punk roots. This ‘too metal to be truly punk but too punk to be truly metal’ sound is well showcased on their third full length release, 1999’s
Steamroller.
When a genre that fuses punk and metal is referred to, most will instantly assume that it is metalcore or thrash, genres that are incidentally strong in Germany. Bonehouses sound is closer to the latter, but still not exactly the type made by the likes of Kreator or Sodum. Instead, the bands sound is more comparable to that of Canadians the Cancer Bats, who are currently the most famous name playing this type of crossover. The five piece specialize in delivering a melting pot of pounding drums, fast riffs and rough vocals, while keeping everything straightforward to the extreme. This formula is used pretty effectively from the opening seconds of opener
Maria Mar till the end of finale
The Dogs Are Back In Town. Yes, it does all sound a bit similar, but this really isn’t an issue when it remains enjoyable throughout the albums duration.
However, the fact that much of
Steamroller sounds the same does not mean that it is without some excellent highlights.
Maria Mar is a strong start, instantly laying down the albums aggressive tone, with speedy riffs and some classic call and response style punk hooks that are also used in other songs. This is quickly bettered by the song that follows, the relentless
Testosterone, a fabulously energetic and relentless assault complete with thrashy riffs and a simple but wonderfully effective single word chorus. Elsewhere,
No Guts No Glory is another prime display of the bands raw sound, and is probably the pick of the albums latter tracks.
As you would expect, there are also far less remarkable songs here such as
Bonebastard and
Sweat Shop Slavery. These are, however, still very adequate additions that are fun to listen to, despite having little replay value. In fact, up until the final track, there are very few major weaknesses here. Sure there is nothing truly outstanding, but that isn’t what Bonehouse offer, they play simple, straight forward no nonsense hardcore. Some may also be irritated by the fact that most choruses are just the songs titles chanted over a wall of relentless noise, but other than these reasons there aren’t any real faults that can be criticized.
Unfortunately, the band blot their copybook somewhat on final track
The Dogs Are Back In Town, a parody of Thin Lizzy’s classic of similar name. It isn’t supposed to be taken entirely seriously, but it just feels a bit unnecessary, and the wrong way to end such an aggressive, relentless and uncompromising album. It doesn’t ruin the album, not at all, it just leaves a slightly sour taste in the mouth come the end, which is a shame, as the album deserves a better finale.
Despite this single dud, and the other small shortcomings,
Steamrollar is an enjoyable album, though admittedly nothing spectacular. It isn’t really surprising that the band have little fanbase beyond German punk scenesters, but there are certainly worse bands out there, a number of whom have become bigger than this band will ever be. This isn’t an album that will change your life or your ideas about music, but if you’re after some straight forward, no nonsense hardcore, you could do far worse than track down some of Bonehouses music, and
Steamroller is a very reasonable place to start.
Recommended Tracks
Testosterone
Maria Mar
No Guts No Glory
Cancel You
