"A progressive concept album that tells a tale of treacherous magic, vengeance and interdimensional insanity through a heady blend of doom, stoner rock, classic rock and even a little surf rock". is how London, UK trio Bad Frankenhausen describe their second album "Zwei: Die Rache" (English translation; Two: Revenge). The band, Rob Hollinshead (drums, vocals and piano), Paul Commerford (bass and vocals) and Tom Goldman (vocals and guitar) tell tales populated by characters such as The Baron and the Countess Roundabout, characters that dwell in settings very much inspired by such giants of popular fiction as Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker.
Bad Frankenhausen are at heart an old school heavy metal band but one with its toes dipped in a pool blended from the waters of doom, stoner, classic and hard rock, pick any one song from the ten on offer and in that song you will find elements of all those genres mentioned plus quite a few that were not. Despite the dark themes running through songs like "Whoresradish", and "Shambleman" there is an underlying feeling of playfulness and mischief to what Bad Frankenhausen bring to the table, the albums concept and lyrical subject matter having a comic book feel much like the Penny Dreadful books that become popular during the Victorian era. This feeling is further enhanced by Goldman's unique lead vocal stylings, the guitarist/vocalist giving each song an extra level of macabre gravitas by telling the albums stories of revenge and treachery in lived in tones that are at the hoarser end of husky. The album is bookended by two instrumentals "Serf's Sup" a reverberating slice of surf rock/metal with a Dick Dale meets The Shadows vibe and "Scherben" a haunting melancholic piano piece, both songs going a long way in proving that there is a far more to this band than just a few crunching riffs and thunderous rhythms.
Bad Frankenhausen are not your run of the mill stoner/metal/hard rock band, there are touches of British music hall/American vaudeville about what they do, there were times during "Zwei: Die Rache" when Desert Psychlist were reminded of the theatrical garage rock musings of early Alice Cooper and in our book that is no bad thing, no bad thing at all.
Check it out ....
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