Review of the Album "Off With Their Heads" by German Thrash Metal Band Fabulous Desaster
About the Band Fabulous Desaster & Their Vocal Style
“Off With Their Heads” is the 2018 thrash metal album by Germany’s Fabulous Desaster. Yes, that’s how the second part of this band’s name is spelled and this must be some sort of pun or a play on words. The band’s name comes from the Exodus album Fabulous Disaster. The vocals do sound like a German version of Steve Souza.
Some Basic Information About the Band Fabulous Desaster
Jan Niederstein: guitars and high falsetto pitched vocals
Mattias Terstegge: guitars
Andi: bass guitars and vocals
Lukas Terstegge: drums
Genre: thrash metal
Off With Their Heads: the First Three Songs Including "The Dealer"
This thrash metal album starts with the speedy song called “The Dealer” as the song lyrically is about basically an assassin type character that is after cold blood. In spite of the raspy, screaming kind of vocals, this should be a clue that for the thrash metal lover, this album is going to be an enjoyable listen. Abra Cadaver sounds kind of like that song from years ago called Poison Was the Cure but the vocals are not like Dave Mustaine. Nut Up or Shut Up lyrically is about a person that is so arrogant that he thinks that he is better than anyone else and that he knows more than anybody else but his time on Earth is about to expire.
The Importance of the Band Fabulous Desaster to the German Thrash Metal Scene
There are very few German thrash metal bands that I dislike and the only band that I didn’t really get into as of yet is Sodom. I might get into their music at some point but Fabulous Desaster is just another fine addition to the growing and abundant German thrash metal scene. Thrash metal really hasn’t seen any kind of decline that I can think of. In the 1990’s, 2000’s and late into the 2010’s Germany has had the top position in terms of this sub-genre for sure!
Fabulous Desaster Is Not Just Any Kind of Thrash Metal Band
Fabulous Desaster has been around since 2010 so they are not that new even though they only have two studio albums as of now. These guys haven’t really innovated in terms of the genre but if you are looking for a finely created and well-done thrash metal album then you came to the right place.
"The Dealer"
High Pitched Falsetto Style Vocals Dominate This Album
One other quality that is very noticeable about these German guys is that the vocals have much of the high pitched falsetto style shrieks that we would hear from several heavy metal bands back in the 1980’s. It seems like this band wanted to take a time machine back into a previous decade without actually being there and they do a darn good job of sounding like a modern version of Exodus and they may do a better job than these guys did.
Off With Their Heads: The Rest of the Songs
Eye for an Eye is a song about trench warfare. Often times, soldiers are sent off to war and they don’t what they are fighting for or they are lied to by their government officials and leaders. On this first listen through this album, the one con or kind of drawback is the vocal screeches but otherwise the album is a solid set of German thrash metal songs.
© 2019 Ara Vahanian
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