Well, I can’t think of a better way to open a new year of music than with a review of German Metalcore band covering Rap songs. That band is Callejon and the album is called Hartgeld Im Club (Century Media) and this could easily go down as one of the most polarizing releases of the year.

I had no idea what to expect from this album, I had heard the odd song by the band on some Impericon compilations and the like, but had never sat down in front of a full body of their work. I actually thought I’d have more of an issue with the only German spoken vocals, but it turned out that’s something I could easily get past.

It was more the style over substance nature of the songs themselves that I found hard to reconcile with. It’s very clear when opening track ‘Von Party Zu Party’ starts that the covers they have chosen have far more of party vibe and feel to them. The Metalcore crunch is decent enough but nothing that will really get the blood flowing.

‘Schlechtes Vorbild’ was one of the earlier tracks that did at least spark some reaction as it kicks in with an almost Dragonforce-esque Power Metal intro replete with a healthy gallop from the guitars and drums. However, as with many of the tracks, there were just not enough hooks, not enough that was memorable to really stick into your cortex.

‘Was Du Liebe Nennst’ had a really cool straightforward rock structure which was a welcome break from the already overplayed nu-Metal stylings that had come before. The whole thing brought to mind something, not unlike Soundtrack To Your Escape (Nuclear Blast)-era In Flames, as crazy as that comparison may seem to me now.

From this point onwards Callejon serve up songs somewhere between the awful and saccharine ‘Willst Du’ on which I have absolutely no idea what they were thinking to the very decent ‘Arbeit Nervt’; a song I really did like that hits a bouncy nu-Metal sweet spot that had previously been massaged by the likes of Static-X and System Of A Down.

Therein lays the issue for the entire album. It’s all a bit too over the place, which I guess may stem from the band trying to cover songs and make them different enough from their original form that are actually worth recording. The album is no way the complete dud I feared on my first listen, but there just simply isn’t enough here to recommend.

4 / 10

KIERAN MITCHELL