Bethlehem Mein Weg
Red Stream RSR/0174 22.07.04
By Anna Novitzky
German is a fantastic language. Its all guttural and harsh just made for swearing and shouting orders and singing angry songs. It doesnt matter if the lyrics are all about fluffy bunny rabbits and sunshine; they still sound angry. Its a true talent and one I envy very much.
Of course, the major problem with singing in German is that people have a nasty tendency to mistake you for Rammstein. This is especially problematic when you possess such a similarly bombastic, entertaining sound. However, look a little closer and the differences begin to show. Where Rammstein have found one style and stuck to it, Bethlehem experiment, sliding seamlessly from explosive, manic rock to black metal screeching to laid-back, jazzy serenity and back again. With clean, beefy guitars that exercise hard, simple, driving percussion and vocals that can sing, shout or growl with equal alacrity, this is a sound that is both heavier and more serious than Certain Other Bands We Could Mention, while still as joyfully accessible - and eminently listenable, too.
Many of the tracks on Mein Weg seem eerily familiar, even on the first listen. Perhaps its the uncanny resemblance of some of the intros to other popular songs listen out for Marilyn Mansons Beautiful People and Metallicas Nothing Else Matters, among others or maybe Bethlehem have just tapped into my subconscious, but the album grabs you like an old friend from very early on. Accomplished but unspectacular, it merrily grows on you, from the oddly early-Marilyn Manson-like passage of the start to the Frank Sinatra cover of the hidden track. If you give them a chance, these noisy Germans might just rock your world and they probably wont have to use lederhosen and pyrotechnics to do it.
(8/10)
Official Bethlehem Website
Official Red Stream Website
Red Stream RSR/0174 22.07.04
By Anna Novitzky
German is a fantastic language. Its all guttural and harsh just made for swearing and shouting orders and singing angry songs. It doesnt matter if the lyrics are all about fluffy bunny rabbits and sunshine; they still sound angry. Its a true talent and one I envy very much.
Of course, the major problem with singing in German is that people have a nasty tendency to mistake you for Rammstein. This is especially problematic when you possess such a similarly bombastic, entertaining sound. However, look a little closer and the differences begin to show. Where Rammstein have found one style and stuck to it, Bethlehem experiment, sliding seamlessly from explosive, manic rock to black metal screeching to laid-back, jazzy serenity and back again. With clean, beefy guitars that exercise hard, simple, driving percussion and vocals that can sing, shout or growl with equal alacrity, this is a sound that is both heavier and more serious than Certain Other Bands We Could Mention, while still as joyfully accessible - and eminently listenable, too.
Many of the tracks on Mein Weg seem eerily familiar, even on the first listen. Perhaps its the uncanny resemblance of some of the intros to other popular songs listen out for Marilyn Mansons Beautiful People and Metallicas Nothing Else Matters, among others or maybe Bethlehem have just tapped into my subconscious, but the album grabs you like an old friend from very early on. Accomplished but unspectacular, it merrily grows on you, from the oddly early-Marilyn Manson-like passage of the start to the Frank Sinatra cover of the hidden track. If you give them a chance, these noisy Germans might just rock your world and they probably wont have to use lederhosen and pyrotechnics to do it.
(8/10)
Official Bethlehem Website
Official Red Stream Website
