FARMER BOYS – The Other Side

German Farmer Boys has been releasing albums since the mid-nineties. Not a lot of people outside their home country know about them, though the band has been touring some in Europe, and even quite a bit in the States. By know they should have the experience and maybe the urge and knowledge to, if they want, increase their territory. Well, I don’t know, but at least they’ve got the right album!

The Other Side is a very fine surprise. Me, being unfamiliar to the band and their previous recordings, has during the last couple of weeks of listening to this album grown a gratitude to this acquaintance. However, the first part of the opening-track ( “For The World To Sing” ), scared me when I first played the album; it sounded like some synth-based power rock/AOR-crap, but then came the guitars, and the drums and the bass started to chase and I started to smile. This is Melodic Metal, sometimes bordering to Prog, sometimes Pop. It won’t be a crime comparing several parts of the album to works done by Farmer Boys’ country men Vanden Plas. Some of the compositions have got something Stabbing Westward about them as well.

Quite a few tracks stand out as great news to the world so far ignorant to Farmer Boys existence. Track two, “Like Jesus Wept”, is powerful. The chorus is strong and melodic and has been stuck in my brain for days now. Track three, “Once And For All”, is heavier, it builds up with convincing dramaturgi and shows how singer Matthias Sayer masters a vast range in his vocal performance. Sayer sounds from time to time a bit nice and untypical for this genre, bur hey, I like it!

“Trail Of Tears” is another good example on the band’s cheerworthy skills in song-writing. Still, Farmer Boys’ self-produced album has within its variations examples of poorer judgement. Watching music videos on TV the other day I learned Farmer Boys has made a video for the track “Stay Like This Forever”. To me that’s an odd choice. The song doesn’t represent the album at all. It rather represents bad synth-arrangements and poor German pop from the 80’s. The last track, “Get Crucified” could have been left out. It’s not as interesting or as good as the rest. However, the level of the tracks all together is high.

Well. Now I’ve listened to this album. Your turn!