DEBUNKING / DECONSTRUCTING: ALCOHOLIC METAL

 

  

CLICK FOR POLISH VERSION

I had this strange urge to talk about Metal, while drinking beer (after all, it's saturday, maybe a working saturday for some, but then again, each saturday should be an international beer day).

Alkocol in Metal is a tradition as strong as satan, and while there are plenty of satanic bands, I can't think much of many drink-inspired groups. And I mean, bands that have their whole image dedicated to drinking, not 1 song like "Sex, Drinks & Metal" on an album.

Tankard comes to the rescue. I'll be blunt (hic), it's something of a German Acid Drinkers (about whom below), but without good riffs, or originality. But you can imagine my surprise, when I realized that a band known to be drunkards turn out to be much more sober in their thinking than many oh so-called "pros". Unlike them, Tankard took care of their copyrights and they are able to function in the show-business, much better than people who think that they "have a talent".

If that wasn't enough, from the lyrical side, the band seems to hide their deeper thoughts, as if they did not want to crush their meticulously crafted image. Their lyrics are not only witty, but also intelligent, and about specific topics. Honestly, I expected something more in vein of "song about beer #1", "song about beer  #2", etc., and instead we have stuff about romance, social stuff, politics, philosophy, sci-fi, horror, grotesque, or just plain attitude exhibited by the band.

However, with all due respect to Tankard, they are literal rookies, when it comes to the greatest band from the land of Po (Poland for people who can't into puns), which is...

 

No shit sherlock, but this crew was responsible for turning numerous generations into Metalheads in Poland, including me (we are talking about decades here). As the legend goes, the bassist/vocalist Titus met future guitarist Litza while buying the tickets for Iron Maiden show. Instead of attending the gig, they decided to sell their tickets and just form a band instead. They started first as Los Desperados, and then, as people who drink Acid, inspired by the God of All Metal and Hard Rock, Lemmy himself.

Stylistically, they were similar to early Tankard, namely Thrash Metal infused with Punk, but not quite Crossover, and riffs, which had Grooove. The difference is still huge, because Acids:

1)  unlike Germans, they are actually very funny (I recommend a song "Woman With Dirty Feet", albeit the fetishists will probably not be discouraged),

2)  they were developing their style and constantly trying something new, (EVERYONE SHOULD LEARN THIS FROM POLISH PEOPLE)

3) had massive support in Poland, than Tankard in Germany. As one can see, Polish people are better at finding a real talent.

In case of Acids, the alcoholism was more of a reputation, rather than lyrical topic, as in general, they were about daily problems, like being conscripted, lacking money, bad women, and so on. I dare to say that Acids are better at storytelling, alas.

For me, the undisputed leader of the scene, albeit many would like to diminish their significance.

Last, but not least, something peculiar...

 

As I am a noted Braziliophiliac, I couldn't resist including a band from the land of rising Pinga. Cirrhosis was a project formed by no one else, but Wagner Lamounier from Sarcófago, between its death and rebirth in the late 80s. There are no official recordings from that period, and you could say that the band had a second life afterwards,

Their first masterpiece, a split with Lou Cyfer, with a proper name, "Alcohol Rules" was a very goood, atmospheric / moody resemblance of a pub in hell. Beside alcohol, the band criticized jesus, so you had the whole combo.

For their new stuff, we had to wait 11 years, when they released "Alcoholic Death Noise", a Dionysian tribute to orgy of sex and drinks. It's very bleak, dark, but then again, it's Death Metal after all. They also released even better "Drinks From Hell", which despite its name, wasn't much about drinks, but rather about the perversions of the modern world. They also had post-mortem album "The Last Act".

A little explanation, during the second life of Cirrhosis, the leader was Juarez Tavora, who after leaving, formed another band called Scourge, aka Cirrhosis II. But considering it was Hate Metal, it wasn't really tied thematically.

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As a serious summary, one can get a feeling that the bottle of beer is nothing more, but a metaphor about serious issues that we neglect, or rather, an invitation to a discussion? It's hard not to have a feeling that we are dealing with a situation out of an old joke, when the famous clown, who makes everyone laugh, actually has a severe depression himself. So what I really wanted to deconstruct here? Well, now that's the question I want you to think about...