Here is only the second album from a band that goes way back and that has a bit of controversial history attached to them. Hailing from the eastern parts of Germany, and going as far back as to 1985, you can probably guess yourself what Macbeth have been involved in. Bands who wanted to play live in front of audiences had to apply for permission and be granted a certain license. Rebellious as they were, Macbeth didn’t do this, and during a show in their home-town of Erfurt in 1986, they were surprised by Eastern German Secret Police and were prohibited to continue the show. The fans went furious, and the streets were packed with protesters only moments later. The result of all this was that the band’s rehearsal room was terminated, their vehicle-license was revoked and they lost their license to produce and perform music in any way. In addition to all this, the band went through some difficulties losing their former vocalist to suicide as well as their drummer four years later. However, despite the tragedy that surrounded the band, they rose from the ashes back in 2002, and after the Rebirth-demo was released in 2003, a proper debut-album finally was released in 2006. This, Gotteskrieger is their sophomore effort, and is hopefully what will get them standing tall in the already crowded German metal scene.

I’m not quite sure how to label this as it contains elements from both heavy and thrash metal as well as some parts that remind me of Candlemass and even Amon Amarth. The production is slick and modern sounding, but never overdone yet fitting the music like a glove. The riffs that roll like thunder, much like the mentioned Swedish vikings, only interesting of course, have a very thrash-like edge to them, but sometimes also resembling the doom-y and dark atmosphere of Candlemass. In addition to this, they harmonize and flow very smoothly yet still being crushingly heavy and launched straight in your face from the very first second until the very last. Gotteskrieger is chock full of anger, hostility and isviolent like a bloodthirsty hound on the hunt for flesh. Even during the slower songs the hammering riffs never let up, and accompanied by relentless pounding from well-known drummer Patrick W. Engel, they’ll rip through your speakers and smash some heads from the moment the brilliant opener Under dem Beil through the apocalyptic Maikaefer Flieg and the finishing blow that is Am Grab. The slightly raw and rumbling yet still strangely charismatic vocals of Olli Hippauf command the advancing forces, and though his work might be a little tricky to get into at first, you’ll be head-banging at any moment anyway. Due to the fact that the lyrics are sung in German, this comparisons to fellow country-men Rammstein is bound to be drawn, and I’ll honestly admit that these guys kind of reminds me of them despite being much better and belonging to an entirely different genre. This has most certainly much to do with the mentioned language, but is also maybe due to the clear and modern production that dress this.

If I were to pick a moment that ultimately send chills down my spine and makes them sting like a bolt of lightning to my poor nerves, it’s actually a part that gets quite the bashing from reviewers all over the web. Namely the rumoured “pathetic attempt” on female vocals on the personal favourite Maikaefer Flieg, which is an extremely depressive, psychotic and one of the darkest songs on the album. Whether it’s an attempt on female vocals or not, the contrasts created by the audibly young child that is singing ever so clear about insanity on the beginning of the chorus is simply breathtaking and very creepy. Yeah, it sounds odd at first, but it’s unlike anything I’ve heard before and took me completely by surprise during the first spin and quite frankly left me a little awestruck.

Having not released anything proper until recent years I’m pretty damn impressed by the level of how updated and awesomely produced this is. The song-writing is extremely intelligent, and there are hardly any weak moments here. Finally being able to look into a bright future, this should definitely put Macbeth on the map. Gotteskrieger is an album I can easily foresee any metal-fan appreciate to some extent. Terrifying, intelligent and nasty heavy metal with the right vibes will rip you limb from limb, and the German language adds to the horror which is actually a plus. Highly recommended.