Review Summary: The Kings of Beer and Ugliness put their drinks aside in order to get down to business. Fortunately, the bottles didn’t break in the process.
Formed in Frankfurt, Germany in 1982,
Tankard have been delivering Alcoholic Metal for (as of today) almost
thirty-six years, and are often hailed as the fourth in the “Teutonic Big Four” of thrash metal. Albeit not quite as unknown to the casual thrash listener as other German bands from that era like
Pyracanda,
Risk or
Living Death,
Tankard were never particularly mainstream, with their beer-related lyrics and partying attitude being the main reasons why some thrashers tend to overlook or mock them. Nevertheless, they did find moderate success during the late ‘80s and the first half of the ‘90s, managing to build a respectable and loyal fanbase to this day.
In the first half of the ’90s,
Tankard distinguished themselves from the rest of the “Teutonic Big Four” package by sticking to their guns and choosing the path of
loyalty. This resulted in a surprisingly gratifying trilogy of studio releases that, unfortunately, are often overlooked when dealing with this band’s discography. 1994’s
Two-Faced marks the end of said trilogy, an album whose goal was none other than to increase the doses of energy and aggression of preceding efforts
The Meaning of Life and
Stone Cold Sober. In addition,
Tankard’s sixth outing shows vocalist and frontman Gerre and his comrades doing something unbelievable; they abandoned their trademark drunken tone. On
Two-Faced, the partying, women and alcohol are left behind to delve deeper into the problems that our world suffers, addressing issues such as the abusive control of the media, the cybernetic domain, hypocrisy, war, politics and destruction.
This direction can be a double-edged sword. It’s worth noting that these musicians had already shown concern for serious concepts along those lines in previous songs, so they were clearly not incompetent when it came to crafting «intelligent hatred» via their lyrics. On the other hand, Gerre and co. don’t really provide any
particularly original insight about these ideas that hasn’t already been exposed in a similar fashion by other metal bands, and that somewhat undermines the album’s “surprise” factor. Furthermore, this direction is limited exclusively to the lyrical content, while the music still displays
Tankard’s characteristic fun and youthful rage. All these criticisms can be easily refuted with one question:
‘how much does it matter that this isn’t an all-around cutting-edge thrash album?’ It truly doesn’t, but for those expecting a radical change within the band’s musical philosophy,
Two-Faced should be approached with caution.
This is an album that goes straight to the throat with the five-minute opener “Death Penalty”, portraying the thoughts of a man condemned to death by electric chair. Gerre adds more fire to his already manic vocal performances which, along with the marching intro riffage and raging tempo changes, ensure to convey the desperation of the lyrics. This urgency is nicely released during the loud choruses, with an effective call-and-response between the vocalist and the gang chants. The high-speed onslaught by the guitar tandem of Andy Boulgaropoulos and Axel Katzmann continues to cut through, providing intense riff-fests (“Betrayed”, the title track) and ferocious lead playing, ranging from
Slayer-esque electric discharges (“R.T.V.”) to mellower speedy passages (“Up From Zero”).
Tankard rarely let you down with the opening number, and luckily they’re not a band that uses up all their energy on the first track, so ''R.T.V.'' matches ''Death Penalty'' in terms of quality and speed. A harsh criticism towards television media and cheap entertainment, this song showcases one of Arnulf Tunn’s most impressive performances behind the drum kit, as well as demonstrates Gerre’s huge vocal range, who does thrash shouts and higher screams with lots of attitude and rage, delivering fun lines like
'Nine o'clock on channel six/Get the beer and get the chips/Death is live upon the screen/It's reality TV!'. This album is an incredible mix of up-tempo violence and technicality, with songs such as ''Betrayed'' and the futuristic epic ''Cyberworld'' offering lots of meaty, blasting riffs and speedy drumming to satisfy the band’s devotees. There are also bits of groove to be found on both tracks, thanks to the crunchy bass lines and the choice of guitar tones, which are nicely incorporated and don’t affect the album’s amazing consistency.
The transitions between songs are well developed, with the album slowing down on the melodic, somewhat bluesy ''Days of the Gun'', Tankard’s first attempt to create a slow track, sporting sweet riffing and a charming, warm feel while Gerre does a poetic and narrative vocal performance, delivering lines like
'So tell me now, how can you watch the news/As a man gets killed in front of your front door?'. Not everything is socio-critical lyrics, though, and as usual on every classic Tankard’s album, the band pays a tribute to punk rock, this time with an entertaining, German-sung cover of Strassenjungs’ beer anthem ''Ich Brauch’ Meinen Suff''. Unfortunately
Two-Faced would be the last release we would see with both drummer Arnulf Tunn and guitarist Axel Katzmann; the former left the band in 1994, being replaced by Olaf Zissel, while the latter had to leave the band due to osteoarthritis, and Tankard has remained so far as a one guitar group.
Sadly Tankard’s formula got a little stale with the following two albums. 1995’s
The Tankard was an inconsistent attempt to mix their thrashing intensity with a cleaner, melodic approach, while
Disco Destroyer can be seen as the musical equivalent of somebody failing a class in college, throwing a party to "celebrate" this failure and requiring party guests to mock the person throwing the party for their failure. Nevertheless, it’s still noteworthy how the band managed to release three solid albums in the ‘90s, which could be amongst the most underrated thrash efforts of that decade, and
Two-Faced still packs some bite and power that will appeal to any Tankard fan and head-banging thrasher.
