Das Scheit
Superbitch
4.8
The German phrase “das scheit” translates to “the shit”. I thought it was pretty cool that a band would give themselves that name in a culture where so many bands are labeled by their fans as “the shit”. With a name like that, I was pretty sure this would be some heavy German industrial metal a la KMFDM and Rammstein. Well, I got a couple of those parts right. At least the moniker is befitting of Das Scheit - unfortunately it's in the literal sense.
The album opens promisingly enough with “7 Seconds”, with some heavy guitars and a nice groove that would likely be a hit at gothic/darkwave nightclubs, with a vocalist that bears a strong resemblance to ex-Sentenced vocalist Taneli Jarva, giving the track a harder edge. From there, the album begins immediately spiraling to the depths of mediocrity. It’s not a change of approach that does it, the songs just become . . . “blah”. This is likely a typical Euro-trash record, though, moving to-and-from the initial heavy edge into the synth grooves in “Much Deeper”, the new wave of “Earth Stands Still”, and the goth of album closer “Until I’ve Been Forgotten”. It’s all more than a bit tepid with high points poking their heads up every now and then, kind of like The Electric Hellfire Club.
The lack of hookiness and quality throughout is evidenced by the fact that, while a decent soundtrack for mindless activities like browsing porn (or dancing, for that matter), when trying to be productive (like, writing about metal), I found myself getting extremely frustrated and disinterested in my work. Therefore, if this review sounds rushed or headstrong, chalk it up to my wanting to get this thing out of my head as soon as possible so I can go back to doing real work.
