Breforth – Metal In My Heart
Breforth – Metal In My Heart
Metalapolis Records
Release Date: 25/08/23
Running Time: 40:44
Review by Simon Black
8/10
Jürgen Breforth is the only surviving member of stalwart German Metal outfit Max Max and although this is still very much a going concern, its direction has become increasingly towards the Melodic end of the Hard Rock spectrum in recent years. Breforth has released this project as a separate entity in order to have an outlet for something more traditionally Metal sounding without alienating the current fanbase and with a completely different line up to boot. The album’s been a long time coming, with the title track being released as a single last year, but we’re only now seeing the album hit the racks.
When your personal roots go back to the early days of the whole post-NWOBHM movement in Germany, then it’s not surprising that you might know a thing or two about how to craft a solid traditional sounding Metal record of the kind that was attempting to compete with the likes of Accept or Scorpions back in the day, and this album certainly does that with aplomb. Short and punchy at just over forty minutes, the ten songs on here are well-crafted and with enough catchy riffs and melody hooks to work well, complete with the cheesy Metal lyrics that the likes of Priest continue to do so well (and that applies to both versions).
The production sound nicely straddles the clarity and precision that you would expect from modern technology, but definitely harks back to those reverb heavy days of the 80’s, which to be fair is exactly what you need for this sort of music, although the drum sound does sound a little treble heavy after a while, so maybe ease of the compression a bit next time eh, gents? Although to be fair, it’s bang on the right sound for this band.
Vocalist Peter Lenzschau appears to have been hiding under a rock for the last 53 years, since I can find no evidence of any other bands he’s been involved in and is something of a find. He’s got a solid high register Metal voice that has enough of a screaming edge to evoke Ripper Owens in places and he absolutely steals your attention throughout this piece with his charismatic delivery. The only downside is that his melody lines can follow the riff’s too closely in places when he’s not really letting rip – most noticeably on ballad ‘Wheel Of Fortune’. This is often the case when a vocalist hasn’t had so much experience of working in the studio or has come into the process later in the day with the songs already written and arranged but given that Lenzschau and Breforth wrote the material this is a minor niggle, as to be honest I can’t fault the song writing or arrangements in general.
It’s a consistently strong album, and the title track is a suitable anthemic floor filler, but you can tell that it had been recorded at a different time from the rest of the record, so I’m guessing this was the experimental toe-dip in the waters to test interest, and it’s the only track with noticeable keyboard content and a more obvious arrangement, but it works well and is exactly the sort of thing you can get a field full of drunk people who don’t know your stuff to sing along to.
‘Wheel Of Fortune’ Official Lyric Video
TRACKLISTING:
01. Reset My Sanity
02. Digging In The Dirt
03. Dynamite
04. Rest In Peace,
05. Wheel Of Fortune
06. Danger
07. Metal In My Heart
08. Social Suicide
09. Night Train To Paris
10. Need More Rock ‘n’ Roll
LINE-UP:
Jürgen Breforth – Guitar
Peter Lenzschau – Vocals
Erik Blumenthal – Guitar
Jens Lükermann – Bass
Arne Fleischhut – Drums
LINKS:
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