ALBUM REVIEW: Das Elfte Gebot – Feuerschwanz

When you turn fifteen, it comes at a major turning point in your life, so much happens in so little time. Its a year of major change and nothing personifies that than the fifteen years that have established folk metal pioneers FEUERSCHWANZ. In their 15th year of existence, they have released their latest album, Das Elfte Gebot, onto the world amidst a global pandemic where music is not at the top of anybody’s priority list. Quite frankly though, it should be with the ninth album developing and enriching the very seeds that FEUERSCHWANZ laid so many years ago. A band that thrives on the live stage has now had to channel all of their excitable cheeky energy into the collection of songs with a title that roughly translates as ‘The 11th Commandment’.

FEUERSCHWANZ like fellow countrymen RAMMSTEIN sing primarily in the German language, this does take a while to get used to if you’re not a listener of many German bands but once you are over it diving deep into the album as a whole throws up some gems. Opening with Meister der Minne which doesn’t hang about with any introductions getting straight into the groove and gallop of Jarne Hodinsson‘s bass guitar. The opening tracks set the tone for the rest of the record with its melodies, high harmonies, and won’t stop anybody getting up for a jig.

Second track Metfest really solidifies where this record is going with its backbone of ‘who ha’ style melodic calls and arms aloft, pumping the sky cries of “Metfest!”. This is one of those typical festival style songs with the audience and band melding into one showcasing how, after 15 years together FEUERSCHWANZ has their fans and the interactions with beers held aloft, with them firmly at the forefront of their mind. The midsection with vocalist slowing things down to spin a yarn at the fireside before the song reaches for the stars.

Lead single and title track Das Elfe Gobot is where the album takes a swing towards the serious side of the band with the SABATON influenced track showcasing the band’s superior lyricism and the world-building they have been teasing for the whole of their career. This track could quite easily traverse their loyal Germanic following and help them branch out into other areas to accumulate more fans, what’s good for SABATON is there for the taking for FEUERSCHWANZ.

It doesn’t take very long to get back to the glory of the horns, horns of flagons that is with midsection song Kampfzwerg showcasing the instruments not heard often in the metal world, the fiddle being a strong melodic throughline of the song showcasing the sheer passion the band brings to the folk metal scene, they know what works and they utilize it well.

To talk about an album as diverse as this is to do it a disservice, it’s an album that is bigger than the sum of its parts, overall the sound has nods towards thrash legends like IRON MAIDEN, TESTAMENT to more modern contemporaries like GLORYHAMMER or GHOST. The band has been on a relentless touring schedule since their birth and this album above all else, has everything a FEUERSCHWANZ fan will love. The epic sweeping storytelling of folk, the crunch and groove of the metal world, and enough mead powering the album to get any chariot over the hill and far away. Raise your (mead filled) horns to the sky and revel in the majesty that has one foot in the cheeky side of metal and the other in the epic lyricism and mysticism pulled from the pages of The Hobbit or The Lord Of The Rings.

Rating: 7/10

Das Elfte Gebot is out now via Napalm Records. Like what you’ve heard? Be sure to check out our feature on FEUERSCHWANZ here!

Like FEUERSCHWANZ on Facebook.