Review: The Apocalyptic Riders “Samurai” CD

So, I guess for some reason they decided to translate this German act's name from Die Apokalyptischen Reiter for the American release of the CD, which I don't think makes a lot of sense if they're still called Die Apokalyptischen Reiter in Europe and elsewhere, but whatever. I haven't heard anything from this band since their 2000 full-length "All You Need is Love", and I don't recall very much about it, but I don't really care for this new disc at all. It's an odd mix of traditional metal, thrash, rock 'n' roll, atmospheric textures, and even a few loose influences that kind of have an almost metallic folk sounding ring to 'em (such as "Wahnsinn", for example, which combines slick dual guitar melodies with sythns and a boppy sort of folk tempo added to by the German singing). They do everything from sludgy rocked out grooves and fast paced 80's thrash picking patterns to singing vocals and lush clean passages, as well as sneering screams, scarce hints at blasting black metal, and tons more. And that diversity is cool and all, I just don't really like these songs. The vocals do little for me and the singing sounds forced and overdramatic, the songwriting feels inconsistent and lacking in direction, and it's not the kind of thing I can really get into. For every mildly catchy melodic chord progressions or energetic solo there's an annoying patch of weird keyboards or overused pinch harmonics, among other obnoxious tidbits. And what the hell's the deal with "Eruption", which goes from spacey synths to weird poppy chord progressions that just make no sense to me at all? This is one that definitely highlights the weaknesses with the singing as well, as it's just kind of cheesy and overbearing as a whole. And the overly groovy rhythms in "Per Aspera Ad Astra"? The acoustic and funky "Lazy Day"? That stuff's just weak, if not altogether terrible. But the production's good. At least that's in place. It's thick and has a clear mix, the synths are mixed in so that they don't distract from the guitars, the bass is adding density without playing a lead role, etc. The vocals lean out front at times, but other than that everything sounds nice. The lead tone works very nice for smooth dual guitar harmonies and solos, and so on. Like many of their past albums the layout here looks nice, though it is kind of silly and odd for a metal record. Not that the band isn't odd in their own right. It looks consistent though, with lots of chaotic arrangements and tons of goofy photos of the band members striking silly poses in silly clothes making silly faces, etc. But, at least you can tell they've got a sense of humor and the photos are of a nice quality. The lyrics are in both English and German, and song titles like "Rock 'n' Roll", Hey-Ho", and "Roll My Heart" might suggest that the lyrics aren't really anything to get excited about, so... There are some very cool riffs on this record and the production is nice, but the songwriting basically sucks. "Die Sonne Scheint" is the only song I almost like; because it's short, catchy, and straightforward; though it doesn't really fit, and the German singing is way too annoying for me to handle. I'm honestly pretty blown away that this band is still able to release records on such a high profile label, to be honest. This is simply not a good album, and for a band that's been around for 10 years it comes across as very confused and delusional. They're trying to be wildly creative and add a ton of variety, but their songwriting's running in place as a result.