Album Reviews
Following the release of 2018’s ‘Chlorine’, Germany’s fuzz punks Pabst - short for (P)retty much (A)lways (B)ored, (S)ick, and (T)ired - further honed their skills on the road, touring with everyone from Bob Mould to Kadaver. And when they felt ready, they headed for the studio and started recording what would become ‘Deuce Ex Machina’.
The album finds the trio, which consists of Erik Heise (vocals, guitar), Tilman Kettner (bass) and Tore Knipping (drums), taking everything they love about genres like garage-rock, grunge, punk along with the rock ‘n roll swagger of a band like Queens of the Stone Age and then distilling a fuzzed up concoction from it. Something all their own, while at the same time making sure these songs sound instantly familiar. Opener ‘Machina’ and ‘Legal Tender’ will have you nodding along in no time while previously released single ‘Ibuprofen’, an anthem dedicated to the band’s drug of choice, shows them at their poppiest. Another album highlight comes in the form of ‘Skyline’, a Japandroids/Spielbergs-like track that doesn’t mince words when it comes to judging the gentrification taking place in their beloved hometown Berlin. The band then proceeds by throwing us a curveball in the form of an ambient interlude called ‘WishCom’, before picking up the pace with the frantic ‘Fugitive (Another Song About Running Away),’ seemingly written on the intersection of grunge and garage. From there on, they keep the momentum going with one fuzz-laden anthem after the other before reaching a more than satisfactory finale with ‘My Apocalypse’.
Track listing:
- Machina
- Ibuprofen
- Useless Scum
- Legal Tender
- Skyline
- WishCom
- Fugitive (Another Song About Running Away)
- Hell
- Straight Line
- Up The Heat
- My Apocalypse
Lacking the talent to actually play in a band, Tom decided he would write about bands instead. Turns out his writing skills are mediocre at best as well.
