There are some bands that manage to effortlessly evoke the good old days and, if those good old days were had in the back room of a random pub in Northern Germany listening to heavy metal cover bands, then Carbid! is almost certainly the band for you. Choosing their outfits from a range of blue denim, spandex and metal studs, Carbid! are adherents to the old adage ‘if it ain’t broke – don’t fix it’. The album is a mixture of their own tracks and the remaining third dedicated to the bands that clearly inspired these German sons of metal in the first place. They’ve put a couple of releases out previously and the front man used to be in a band called Random that has been active since the mid-80s but, other than that, from 13 years in existence, I could find very little about them.
Their own material is early 1980s inspired Accept-style heavy metal (a band that I suspect also inspired the lead singer Kui! and his slightly eccentric style (all the band members have exclamation marks after their names by the way!)). It’s the type of metal that pretty much came and went in about 1986. But its good to hear the mixture of NWOBHM, rock and roll and a bit of punk rock thrown in – just good, honest heavy metal music. Tracks like Never Regret and Angry Nature are fairly memorable. But I’m wondering if I, or anyone else, is ever going to enjoy listening to Carbid! as the band themselves is at playing the music.
The covers are undoubtedly the highlight of the album. Sin City had the singer, whose vocals I had a difficult time getting past, on pretty good form. It did make me wonder if he was with the right group or whether he should be in a more dirty rock n roll band. It’s probably the highlight but the other covers and two or three of their own songs are good fun too. I was enjoying watching the party (well, determined not to be the one to leave early anyway) but I think where Carbid! jumped the shark is the cover of Dio’s Stand Up and Shout. Great riff, but I mean, I’ve heard a lot of Dio covers recently, and the number I wanted to hear a second time you can count on one hand and still have a few fingers left over.
And to be honest, Ozzy’s Bark at the Moon just made me want to hear the original – and that’s the problem with Carbid! In a hazy, beer fuelled setting I’m guessing they’re a blast, but in the cold light of day there are lots of other things I could be doing other than listening to Breaking Walls. Persevere, and you might find yourself with a guilty pleasure on your hands here. But you might be better off spending that 50 minutes putting yourself a mix CD of your favourite early 1980s tracks and enjoying the true spirit of the 1980s.
(5.5/10 Reverend Darkstanley)
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