Unherz – Uherzlich Willkommen (2010)

While we are not big German hard rock fans, we have to recognize that Unherz is a very good up-and-coming band that mixes traditional German hard rock elements with a Metal influences. Featuring catchy riffs and melodies, epic chorus sections, and raspy vocals entirely in German, “Uherzlich Willkommen” is a very effective debut release, and will surely gain a ton of followers for Unherz.

While the similarities to bands like Die Toten Hosen, Unherz quickly crafts their own style by being a bit heavier on the guitars and never shy of breaking some of the ‘traditional’ guidelines of the genre. For over 40 minutes, the listener is treated to 10 catchy as hell songs that will be stuck in your head for days.

The thing that we enjoyed the most about “Uherzlich Willkommen” is the riffing, we get some traditional hard rock structures and some Heavy Metal oriented riffing as well, creating a very balanced and effective foundation for the band’s characteristic sound. Songs like “Amok” show exactly how good the band is at developing a simple yet effective riff and crate a 5 minute song out of it. The never pretentious guitar solos are a nice addition to the music, giving it a ‘heavier’ edge than their competition, but keeping things nicely together.

The vocals of Unherz are all in German, giving the authentic sound to the band, but probably allowing them to only target German-speaking audiences. The melodies are very catchy and well constructed, allowing us to greatly appreciate the songs, even if we don’t know what the hell they are talking about.

In songs like “Inferno”, we get the band going full speed with a catchy riff, powerful vocals, and the typical German Rock vibe that many bands have crafted over the year. In other tracks like “Verschenkte Jahre”, we get a slower paced and more ‘depressive’ feeling, making it different from other tracks in this release. The overall flow of the album is very well planed, never letting the listener get stuck on a certain mood or tempo.

All in all, “Uherzlich Willkommen” is a very solid album from a very promising band. And while the target audience of this release might not be North America, if you like catchy music with good vocals, then might as well give Unherz a try, and start learning how to speak (or at least understand) German.

Release: August 28th, 2010

Country: Germany