Verbrannte Erde - IV [Major Label 054 Promo]

Set for release on June 30th via the not that major Major Label is the fourth album of Gera's Verbrannte Erde, a group founded in 1996 building their musical home upon a dark grey foundation mainly consisting of German Punk / PostPunk and a slice of (No)Wave - a stylistic mixture best known to many international readers through the legendary 1978-released Fehlfarben masterpiece "Monarchie und Alltag" if one wants to refer to one of the genres uber-classics here. The dreary, wall-fenced Berlin of the cold war era comes to mind as well as the musical colour is concrete but "IV" - the albums well chosen title - is way more than another no future and fuck the police / society / capitalism / whatever record that has been heard times and times before although there's not only a bit of criticism to be found in all of them ten songs. But it's deeper, more profound and between the lines instead of relying on old war cries over and over again which is defo a good move. And melancholia-filled lines like "Nur die Zeit hat Mist gebaut / löscht aus Erinnerungen wahre Teile aus" are of a lyrical beauty of their own that is impossible to translate to non german readers whilst shout-a-long slogans like "Nie wieder arm sein" provide a rough street credibility that also die-hard punks can relate to. Plus: this one is a grower and within weeks or months or years there is more magic to unfold than the first listening sessions can provide. Timeless.