Review: Hanzel Und Gretyl – 'Für Immer'

HANZEL UND GRETYL 

'Für Immer' 

METROPOLIS 

It's hard to believe that the duo of Kaizer Von Loopy and Vas Kallas (AKA pseudo-Neu Deutsche Härte act Hanzel Und Gretyl) have been around for nearly 20 years now. With a handful of interesting albums to their name in the 90s, they gained international infamy due to the playfully parodying of albums such as 2003's 'Über Alles' and 2004's 'Sheissmessiah'. Now off the back of their sixth album 'Born To Be Heiled' comes the companion EP, featuring tracks remixed by Von Loopy's electro side-project KyzrWölf.

One criticism of HuG has been that, although their music has a lot of variety, it often seems to quickly become unfocussed as there are so many influences vying for control. What this remix album brings to the table though is a more focussed and linear style that maintains the unpredictability of the originals.

Purists can pick on the band for their lack of grammatical correctness (and believe me... they will ad nauseam), however there is something undeniably fun about singing and dancing along to tracks like 'More German Than German', 'Unterztützung 87', 'Born To Be Heiled', and 'Holy Shiza' with their cheesy and parody orientated titles. The fact that these are all electronic remixes as well gives the band back their club-orientated sound that has become increasingly over-shadowed by their various metal influences in recent years.

The remixes have a nice modern edge that gives a nod to the band's early electro-industrial style, while also dropping in nods to more recent trends such as dubstep. It's a solid effort that will undoubtedly yield some club hits to keep both DJs and old school fans more than happy.

This is a kind of “best of both” situation. HuG have a pretty solid fanbase that expect the heavy guitars and metal posturing of the last decade’s worth of albums has presented. Yet, with what is quite a well thought out and reconstructed remix album, the band are able to tap back into the dance/club market once again and widen their appeal. Hopefully this is a trend the band will continue on future releases.

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