REVIEW
NEW ALBUM “EVERYTHING SHINES”
Feine Sahne Fischfilet: A good album with only the music disturbing
Five years after their last album, Feine Sahne Fischfilet are back with “Alles Glänzt”.
© Erik Weiss / Plattenweg Tonträger / DPA
After five years, Feine Sahne Fischfilet are back with a new album. “Everything shines” is a homage to the band’s East German homeland, to friendship and love. A good album – if it weren’t for the music.
It’s been more than five years since Feine Sahne Fischfilet released their album “Sturm & Dreck” and finally made their breakthrough. A lot has happened to the band since then. They’ve been regulars at the country’s biggest festivals, lost two band members and frontman “Monchi” a few pounds, and faced anonymous abuse allegations (which have been legally overturned). Now the band is back. With a new cast and their album “Alles Glänzt”. But as is often the case: the most difficult album is always the one after the greatest success. “Feine Sahne” are now also feeling the effects of this.
Feine Sahne Fischfilet: New album “Everything shines” can do everything and yet nothing really
“Everything shines” sounds at first like a typical “Feine Sahne” album. Guitar riffs alternate with horn arrangements that only know one direction: forward. The lyrics that “Monchi” shouts into the microphone can easily keep up with those of the past albums. Again they drip with desperation, resignation, anger and anti-fascism. And yet everything sounds different. Smoother, softer, ironed, friendlier.
The previously released single “Kiddies im Block”, which opens the album, is lyrically a loud cry for help to finally pay attention to the problems of young people in East Germany – because far too little has happened since the fall of the Wall. So much for a typical theme of the band. But the musical accompaniment clearly moves “Feine Sahne” in the direction of stadium rock. The main thing is catchy. The main thing is a chorus to sing along with lots of “Ooohooo” and “Aaahaaa”. Greetings from the Toten Hosen.
The ska parts in songs like “Komm mit aufs Boot” or “Die Eine Liebe” work as always, and yet they seem calculated. “Pig rock” for the masses – that doesn’t really work. The punk energy that “Feine Sahne” generates sounds too often like an alibi.
The only ballad is the highlight of the album
The band can also do things differently – and they do it really well. The song “If we see each other” is musically and lyrically the highlight of the album. Written for a friend of the band who was a captain on sea rescue missions in the Mediterranean and now faces a long prison sentence.
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It’s unfortunately the only ballad on the record – and above all the only song that really goes to the heart. Clean played chords, no frills, “Monchi”, which sings much deeper than in all other songs:
“Is it 10, 20 or 30 years in prison? The only thing that bothers you is how many you didn’t save.
I hope you can sleep again soon, find your laughter again.
I hope you can go back to sleep soon, without booze and hard stuff.”
Technically the band’s best album, but the sparks don’t fly
So how does the album sum up? Lyrically, Feine Sahne Fischfilet draws on the full again. Musically, it’s definitely the best-produced record in the band’s history. But that’s exactly what makes them a little too clean. The band has shed the image of the sleazy children of German rock – unfortunately. Where “Monchi” used to say “Nobody has to be a cop!” spat into the microphone, today you strike a much more forgiving tone. It’s a shame, because a bit of anarchism in the charts and at festivals has always done Germany a lot of good.