Strap your brains in, folks. This going to be a mind-fuck for the ages. Germany’s premier exponents of virtuoso jazz metal have been making astonishing records for a long time. From the ultra-progressive madness of early albums like 2008’s “Starke Stucke”, through to mutant metal monoliths like “Breaking Brain” (2015) and its festive follow-up “X-Mas Death Jazz” (2017),PANZERBALLETT have always been fearless fusion warriors, making music for those with a taste for the technically sublime and the utterly batshit.
Speaking of which, “Übercode Œuvre” begins with a cover of MESHUGGAH‘s “Bleed”. It takes some cojones to attempt to cover anyMESHUGGAH song, but PANZERBALLETT have gone straight to the Swedes’ greatest hit and fed it straight through their jazz metal tree-shredder. Less a cautious tribute than a mind-boggling, mathematical reconstruction, PANZERBALLETT‘s “Bleed” revels in the original’s self-evident intricacy, but with oscillating tempos and knotty time signatures that favor complete insanity over oppressive groove. It is completely deranged, utterly magnificent, and a brilliant way to start an album. Strap your brains in.
These are musicians with absurd levels of technical skill, but it is the pristine ingenuity of their compositions and covers that are the real star here. PANZERBALLETT are a well-oiled machine, but one with a vivid imagination and endless finesse. “Übercode Œuvre” never becomes impenetrable, because the Germans are so resolute about making music that delights and dazzles, as opposed to relying on endless showboating that only pleases other musicians. Admittedly, there are moments here that take the breath away, but from that extraordinary MESHUGGAH cover to the sublime version of Beethoven‘s “Ode To Joy” that brings the curtain down, this is as joyous and entertaining as anything released this year.
Every track stretches the boundaries, every track boggles the mind. “Seven Steps To Hell” wreaks havoc with seven-note patterns, woodwind and brass become entangled with an air-tight rhythm section and crunchy, discordant guitars fill in the gaps. Vivaldi gets a brutal upgrade on “The Four Seasons: Summer”, which has more synapse-frying shred per square inch than seems strictly reasonable, and which dials up the prog metal undercurrents for maximum impact. Heiko Jung‘s extraordinary bass solo is a thing of wonder. And yes, for all their technical prowess, PANZERBALLETT really swing too. “Alien Hip Hop” is an infectious, fidgeting funk freakout, powered by staccato riffs and overlaid with the colorful chords of ’70s fusion. As it stutters and flows, the music seems to disintegrate, before magically reforming, with different emphases and a more percussive, tribal gait. When the riff kicks back in, all elements collide in a final dance to the death, angular riffs butting heads with keyboard and brass stabs, as veteran drummer Virgil Donati weaves everything together with a jazzman’s casual ease. Again, utterly magnificent. Pitched as “a love song for a soul mate”, “Andromeda” provides a gorgeous moment of calm, with ambling grooves that underpin mellifluous saxophone, and intermittent prog metal riffs that break the tranquil surface, ushering in a beautifully languid solo from PANZERBALLETT guitarist and frontman Jan Zehrfeld. After a deeply strange and disorientating vocal version of “Ode to Joy” that seems to change tone, tempo and genre every 20 seconds, another certified classic receives a total dismantling and rebuilding at the hands of these mischievous geniuses. An all-time funk classic, “Pick Up The Pieces” put the AVERAGE WHITE BAND firmly on the international map 51 years ago, and it remains one of those funk instrumentals that everybody knows. The majority of people will probably struggle to dance to PANZERBALLETT‘s version, which is as fascinating as it is demented. All the song’s recognizable parts are present, but they are not behaving as they should. It might be funky. It’s hard to tell. But whatever is going on, nobody can accuse “Übercode Œuvre” of being predictable.
“The Devil’s Staircase” sums up this rollercoaster ride better than anything: a confounding, spiral maze of riffs, motifs and perpetually shape-shifting rhythms, it makes total sense and no sense whatsoever. All that is verifiably clear is that PANZERBALLETT are truly mind-blowing and utterly unique.
Source: blabbermouth.net
