TANKARD

Kindergarten stuff — suspenders and all! Having drunk themselves silly, guzzled and gulped their fill, flooding the entire studio, mixing consoles, amps, and other expensive junk with foaming swill from Pilsner, Guinness, and Lowenbrau, TANKARD have birthed yet another green goblin. The album's concept is such that each new song is a fresh bottle, and by the time you've drained the last one at the album's end, you start seeing humanoids riding ferocious bulldogs. And indeed — kicking off with the machine-gun "Under Friendly Fire," the "beast of bourbon" promises a proper drunken brawl by the midpoint and total... hmm, how to put it delicately... carnage by the evening's close. Thrash-disco rhythms burst into lovely bouquets of familiar riffs, while the pleasant portly fellow Gerre delivers his heartfelt sermon, instructing the congregation on how, where, when, and at what temperature one should consume doses of malt life. The sermon's chapters speak for themselves: "Die With A Beer In Your Hand," "Dead Men Drinking," "Beyond The Pubyard"... The German lads should have definitely spent some time with our "Sektor Gaza." But seriously, on "Beast Of Bourbon" TANKARD offer us high-speed thrash with rare, almost accidental melodies, competent solos, and rhythms in the spirit of "down the stairs on a bicycle-ycle-ycle." Occasionally a bottled acoustic fantasy drifts by, and for dessert — if you survive, heh-heh! — there's a cover and a couple of fancy wallpapers for your electronic pal Windows.