The Morning After

I do not really know how to start this review.

Tankard is a band that I feel that if only they had had a better sound quality in their first releases (ok, Zombie Attack's sound is decent, but the album pales before Chemical Invasion and this one), they could have been a more recognized band, as I think that they had the talent enough to make memorable and iconic music.

Let's start with the reason for the title: the production is crap. It's dirty, unintelligible and many of the notes are unrecognizable; it is even worse than Chemical Invasion's production. This is clearly evident in the first riff of Commandments, and it is pretty sad because songs like Feed the Lohocla would be more powerful and enjoyable if only the sound quality was better. God, why? I do not know anything about the process of recording an album, but as far as I know, Tankard recorded the album with the same producer and in the same studio where Sodom's Persecution Mania was recorded, an album with a more worthy sound quality, and it is frustrating listening to this album with such a disappointing production, and it is frustrating because the music is actually good.

The Morning After shows another Tankard's facet. They continue giving us a consistent thrash metal sound, but this time, the music has a partying atmosphere, getting apart of the blues influence of the previous album. The music is fast, and it is clearly influenced in the most savages moments of hardcore punk.

Gerre is a sick vocalist, he sounds like if he was throwing up his own guts to have such a visceral voice. Oliver Werner improved as a drummer, adding some arrangements in songs like TV Hero; even Andy and Axel improved as guitar players, and their solos in the album are very memorable. The one that does not stand out a lot is Frank Thorwarth, but although his bass guitar does not sound a lot, it is present in the album giving more body to the music.

Although most of the songs follow the same rule of being fast and insane, the songs are very dynamic and have interesting interludes. If I had to highlight some songs, I would say that The Morning After, Commandments and Feed the Lohocla are the best ones. Commandments for its crude mood, The Morning After because of its frenetic riffs and changes of dynamics and Feed the Lohocla for its rhythm (perfect to headbang), its original introduction and melodic breakdown with some barely audible harmonies.

Unfortunately, I can't give a very high score to this album due to the reasons I already explained. The album is solid and very enjoyable if you like hardcore punk sound; I also recommend you if you want to check its musical virtues. But if you want an album with more worthy sound quality, you better check some of the Tankard's albums of the '90s.

After two mind-blowing albums, everything seemed to be prepared for the masterpiece of Tankard. There was no reason for the band to be afraid of the production of their "make-it-or-break-it" album. But some things are not predictable and, to my disappointment, "The Morning After" turned out to be the first lukewarm record of the hobby-drunkards. A few songs like the lame "Try Again", a cover song of the shitty Spermbirds, appeared as a bit of a damp squib. In particular during this tune, Tankard sounded like rheumatic Ramones. Yet this manageable number of really annoying songs did not constitute the main reason for my frustration. The real problem was that the song-writing as a whole did not work.

Instead of performing once again an overdose of brilliant riffs, the band seemingly had to struggle with a lack of creativity. Almost none of the songs stuck in my mind. Furiousness, vehemence and determination were not missing. Important ingredients, no doubt about it, but not enough to create an outstanding album. The majority of the pieces did not possess a grain of uniqueness. "Commandments" is a good example for the dilemma of the album. It was a fast thrasher and the band avoided major compositional defects, although the chorus did not really blow me away. But it totally lacked of charisma and was just meaningless. The following "Shit-Faced" suffered, among other things, from its immature background vocals. "Oh-ohohoooh", this was no melody, but an unsuitable interjection of the background vocalists. Speaking of the back vocals, they did not have any value at all. Instead of using them carefully, the band chucked them in almost every song so that this stylistic device quickly became predictable. By contrast, Gerre's performance did not give any reason to lament. Although he did not deliver a great variety of vocal lines, he acted in a very passionate manner.

The title track and "Help Yourself" came closest to my expectation, but even these songs were not able to compete with a great number of the eruptions of "Zombie Attack" and "Chemical Invasion". Admittedly, they had some interesting moments. For example, "Help Yourself" surprised with a short keyboard line during the instrumental middle-part. But this does not mean that everything was fine. Even the best songs were slightly too long and lacked a tiny bit of substance. The same went for the production. The clanging snare as well as the scratching guitars could not inspire me.

Summing up, the first two albums of Tankard had been a kind of ecstatic party. Conversely, "The Morning After" was, well, the morning after. It is therefore only logical that it left a stale aftertaste. Even an acoustic joke like the grindcore parody "Mon Cheri" did not arouse my interest. What was even worse, this joke was just not funny, in particular because the band had already proved that it was actually able to write coherent blitzkrieg tunes (remember "Puke"). All told, one can say that the guys were confronted with their first midlife-crises - and they failed to handle it successfully. Honestly, this album is only interesting for collectors that need every item of the German beer brigade.

The third release from Germany’s beer-loving thrashers Tankard, “The Morning After,” shows a band far more accomplished and technically-skilled than they were ever given credit for come through splendidly on mixing their past with their future.

With the progressive leanings pushed aside with this release, the album as a whole tends to show a mature cross-pollution with their punk beginnings, making for one of the most energetic, thrash-intensive albums in not only the band’s history, but the genre as well. Picking up right where the last album left off, the chaotic speed of punk and the thrashy, technically-advanced riff-work pay immediate dividends in proper first song ‘Commandments,’ a virile blast of violent energy that showcases the band at their best. The punk-influenced energy dripping off the song melds nicely with the intricate riffing and drum-work, and their drink-happy lyrics provide the perfect fodder on top. ‘Shit-Faced’ is a stretch into a vaster, technically-proficient territory that carries an extremely catchy chorus a long way with its’ blinding speed and differentiating tempos, making for another extremely fun highlight. The centerpiece to the album’s front half, though, is epic ‘TV Hero,’ an involved, complex epic that perfectly meshes the twisting, complex riff-work with their thrashing energy nicely, and the elongated time allows for numerous tempo switch-ups and alternating moods, from restrained and quiet moments to mid-tempo chugging and scorching thrash beats, making for a monster of a song. More thrashing is found on ‘F.U.N.’ with its extended musical interludes and joyful sing-a-long chorus, and while the cover song is attempted to sound like an original creation, the lack of heaviness or intensity on the track makes it apparent it’s not, ending the first side with a sour note.

The second half of the album is really more of the same in regards to how it sounds, but an interesting development quite comes to focus as the songs tend to start dropping the punk and go for a more tech-thrash approach. The songs are still vicious and up-tempo but seem to focus more on the traditional thrash elements, most notably found in the title track. Rather than simply keep the energy going from start to finish, this one opts to feature several quieter moments within the barrage of riffs that are thrown at the listener that are far more commonly found in truer thrash bands at the time, leaving the intensity down but the speed still up there where they’ve been for years now. This continues in ‘Desperation’ which contains similar moments of exploratory thrashing in its wake while it continues to beat into its listener those fully-fleshed riffs and damaging drum-work. ‘Feed the Lohocla’ is the most thrash-intensive song on the whole album with a ferocious riff and relentless pace that makes for non-stop head-banging and features one of the more violent outbursts in a brutal middle-section, but is otherwise another solid straight-forward thrasher. The final impressive song, ‘Help Yourself’ sees the band’s exploratory thrash segments lifted to nearly the entire song, with an outstanding series of riffs propelling the song forward in more of a straight-forward attempt and effectively drops the punk from their sound once and for all with nary any need for it within its intricately designed structure and allows for plenty to like for a thrash fan. While the album doesn’t end there and features two additional songs, they both combined barely last a minute and would’ve been better served not existing altogether.

Despite ending on a sour note on both halves, the fact that there’s a lot to love elsewhere in this release makes it one of the more impressive in their overall catalog. While initially feeling as though it melds the bands’ two influences together with their technically-laced riffs meshing nicely with the speed and ferocity of punk, the second half opts to forgo the punk and just feature more straight-forward thrash making for one of the strongest start-to-finish albums in the genre as it only hits two sore sports that aren’t real thrash-based songs, and it shows that they’re incredibly comfortable with themselves and their direction without feeling the need to experiment with their style all that much. When the album hits, it hits hard with several classics in its repertoire and numerous full-speed thrash songs, so while the flaws do make quite an impression they aren’t enough to overcome the positives found elsewhere and stands as one more exceptionally fine album from this vastly underrated group.

The brutal reality is that inspite of their tongue-in-cheek, pseudo-psycho shtick, Tankard do not fuck around. "The Morning after" is a hard hitting onslaught of punishing punk/thrash hybrid riffage delivered with the relentless fervor of all classic metal zealots - as examples; Venom, Exodus, Vio-Lence whose "Welcome To Hell", "Bonded By Blood" and "Eternal Nightmare", "The Morningg After" can stand proudly shoulder to shoulder.

Drummer Oliver Werner challenges himself on every song melding hyper tempos with punky mid range fluidly. By comparison Oliver "Olly" Kaiser and Chris Witchhunter sound restrained by tradition. Witness the sheer dynamism he exhibits on "Help Yourself" and "Feed the Lohocla " and it is all the proof you need.

Songs like "Desperation", "Commandments" and the title track rely immensely on Axel Katzmann and Andy Boulgaropoulos' unstoppable guitar work. Chiming catchy rhythm parts and fast picked but easily definable leads.
"Shit Faced", "T.V Hero", "F.U.N" and "Help Yourself" are all immediately catchy with gang vocal hooks that demand swift sing-along-and-head-bang action. "Try Again" is the album's "And Then There Were None". Slightly mellowed and mid paced, it breaks the chaotic mood before it turns utterly psychotic and gives Katzmann room to be unashamedly melodic.

Generally, the album does not take any risks. It strictly plays according to tradition and the results are predictably good.

So, I love Tankard. I love Tankard like a man loves a woman (unless he loves another man). Sometimes you want to kiss her, sometimes you want to buy her the moon, sometimes you want to strangle her and sometimes you just want to run away screaming. Often the earliest part of the relationship is the most involved, the most hopeful and Romantic. You've got your entire lives ahead of you, and if you play your cards right, you can spend them together. In Tankard's discography, this equates to Zombie Attack, Chemical Invasion, and The Morning After, the three albums which can run toe to toe with almost anything else from Germany at the time. Now, if you're grasping your jaw in shock and awe that I just implied the mighty Tankard were the equals of Kreator, Destruction and Sodom then you might wanna take something for the pain, because I will continue to make bold assertions here, as The Morning After is one of my downright favorite thrash metal albums in history.

Zombie Attack was, and remains an underrated masterpiece of raw, punk-influenced havoc that I still listen to today with as much excitement as I had in my teens, but it was pretty clear by Chemical Invasion that the band were moving in a more technically proficient direction, and The Morning After is the culmination of that. At no time in Tankard's career have they been as fast and furious as on this album, with such impeccable velocity in their riffing. They may have 'matched' this level of speed and anguish on future recordings, but nothing would ever really compare to this. Axel Katzmann and Andy Bulgaropulos were a pair of beer swilling monstrosities that fired artillery cans of frenetic blitzing rhythms like few others in the late 80s, and the rhythm section of Frank Thorwarth and Oliver Werner were every bit their match, picking up the slack and anchoring the drunken overkill of their band mates.

For this reason, the production (which some find faulty) of The Morning After succeeds with high honors despite its rough and ready nature. This is another Harris Johns work, who was simply on fire at this point in his career, producing some of the finest metal recordings of all time. The bass is cranked to a good level, almost equal to the guitars, and really its all so spread out and balanced that it can be difficult to hear some of the more flurried activities of the six stringers. Gerre's vocals are likewise rough and uncircumsized, as if he were Schmier's nastier, immature little brother with a boat load more energy and a better skill at drinking and darts. This is the band's ultimate line-up, writing far more effective riffs than their later incarnations, and having 'grown' into a taut team of lush razor-edged barbarians who are almost dizzying in their momentum.

This would all mean nothing if the band did not maintain a high level of quality within the songs themselves. They don't simply explode in your face like a can shaken and popped open, they do so with the intention of leaving a positive taste in your buds that will long outlive the actual neck breaking act of 'being there'. Yes, this is a silly album, with songs about drinking, drinking and maybe a nod or two at society's faults at large, but mostly about drinking and then feeling violent afterward. This is testosterone of the purest strain, so girls need not apply. By 'girls', I mean people who have a hate on for 80s thrash and speed, or 'metal heads' who think pop music polish and excess studio castration somehow add up to good metal music. EXIT HALL LEFT you flippant fuckwits!

Now, crotchety old man rants aside, we delve into the album itself, with a hilarious intro that must warm the heart of the band and former Noise Records label staff to this day, a defiant and hilarious answering machine 'sample' that leads into the violent and vibrant classic "Commandments", which seems to me the ULTIMATE in peer pressure. Now, I've been to University, hung out with alcoholics and jocks and even straight edgers all my life, in various phases. None of them could drive me to drink at gunpoint, but when I hear Gerre exclaim:

'Life's too short to waste your brew, it's plain to see: obey the rules
Thou shall not waste and thou shall not spill, just drink your beer: commandments!
Though shalt not puke cause that's no excuse, just drink your beer: commandments!'

I quaff and sop every sud like it was the last drop of my life! The riffs here are so fast that your head might just fall off if you attempt to bang along, and this doesn't end with "Commandments", because they immediately cock their fists and give it to you straight on the other cheek with the highly amusing "Shit-faced", a tribute to the wasteful excess of the rocker lifestyle. No hotel room shall be spared, no groupie and no bar tab! The riffs are amazing, spiraling completely out of control and exploding into a complex chorus and bleeding solo stream. By this point, the album is already worth anything you'd need to pay for it, but we've only just begun.

"TV Hero" takes you completely by surprise with a schizoid, semi-tech melodic riff the likes of which one might expect from Destruction or Kreator in the late 80s, but not the same band that spewed "Maniac Forces" or "Zombie Attack" just a few years prior. "F.U.N." teases you with a groovy blues-punk riff and some shrill vocals shrieking the song title, before a Kreator-like series of riffs that would have felt quite at home on Terrible Certainty if not for Gerre's vocal and the band's frequent foray into frolicking riffs. "Try Again" is a cover of the Spermbirds, with a melodic opening salvo similar to Overkill's "Hello from the Gutter", and then a mid paced punk riff akin to the Sex Pistols, etc. Thematically and musically, Tankard makes this fit right into the surrounding originals, and it's rather catchy.

Realizing that this diversion might delude listeners into thinking the band is somehow 'happy', the band next evokes the mean intro to "The Morning After", taking a brief spurt back to the jovial punk bridge before the speed once again erupts into a dragway pileup, complete with demonic pitch-shifted vocals and a stunning chorus that serves as little more than another excuse to speed back up and kick the listener in the sack all over again. "Desperation" is staggeringly excellent, as the notable drums and fast melodic flowing riff of the intro collide into a full on thrust of vitriol, all the while the guitars firing off faster than the latest military hardware and Gerre always sounding as if he's primed to start a fight or puke on someone nearby.

"Feed the Lohocla" (you get it, right?) begins with a mix of paranoid, punchy thrash riffing and wailing blues rock abandon before it, too, commits to rifling speed and splattercaust rhythms, sure to please anyone who enjoyed the first few songs on the album. The atheist anthem "Help Yourself" also has some spastic, acrobatic riffing that breaks the speed limit, with an excellent chorus that feels like something Artillery might write, save the vocals.

'Help yourself! We need no fucking preachers in our life!
Help yourself! And all your mighty gods can go to Hell!'

The album ends with a pair of shorts, the cute, punky abandon of "Mon Cheri" and then a loud, abrasive drunken cheer in the "Outro", and by this time, you feel like you've just been trampled over by a crowd of soccer hooligans rushing a field, a parade of fire trucks, a caravan of elephants transporting exotic spices and liquors to a distant land, a rugby team, a Jawa sand crawler, a gaggle of fat aunties heading home from church on Sunday, a pair of mating Bull Hippos and a marching band. You're out for the count, until one of your friends, or some stranger at the bar decides to poor something cold on you to awaken you for the next binge.

I could insert here the many memories I have of sharing this album with other skaters, thrashers and wild hearts in the 80s, including an old Portuguese friend (and former huge Tankard fan) stage diving off my couch at a birthday party, using this album to console myself after breakups or hard times, and other emo testimonials. You would relate to few, if any of these experiences, but you really don't need to hear them. The music on this album speaks for itself. It is pure masculine frenzy with little regard for pop garbage or social graces, like most of the best thrash of that decade. I would trade in just about every goofy alcoholic metal wannabe from the year 2000 on, collectively, for just this single album (a lot of them deriving more from Tankard than they realize). In fact, this is not only one of my favorite German thrash records, alongside Coma of Souls, Deception Ignored, The Antichrist, and so forth, but it represents the absolute peak of 'alcoholic metal', period. Ever. You can take that to the tap.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

In 1988 Tankard had to come up with a worthy successor to their masterpiece "Chemical Invasion" and, partly, they really did.

The first half of this album is quite on par with its predecessor, especially the Thrash assault "Commandments", the diverse 6 minute long "TV Hero" and the brilliant Spermbirds cover "Try Again" (better than the original). "Shit-Faced" is also nice (catchy chorus) and "F.U.N." is o.k.

On the B Side, however, it seemed as if they were starting to lose their ability to write catchy and diverse Thrash songs. The title track is a Tankard classic and a standard at their live shows and the Grindcore homage "Mon Cheri" is just entertaining as it was back in 1988, but the rest basically shows pure mediocrity, yet still with a few nice ideas thrown in ("Feed The Lohocla").

Half of "The Morning After" showed Tankard in top shape just like on its predecessor "Chemical Invasion", the other half, however, revealed some serious weaknesses in songwriting. Maybe it was a mistake to become thrashier compared to the previous albums and maybe that step towards heaviness was really one step too far. I think, though, that they had just started to lose their ability to write great songs (as evidenced on their following albums) and they would need quite some time to get it back...

Another year, another Tankard album! And a damn good one, too. This has got to be my favourite Tankard album, and quite possibly the best one. This album contains even more riffs than the previous effort 'Chemical Invasion' and brings them harder than ever.

The album starts with a funny intro leading into 'Commandments' which really does grab you by the genitals and doesn't let go with its vicious riffing and infectious chorus (Thou shalt not puke cause there's no excuse!!!). Tankard came, Tankard saw, Tankard pwned your ass.

Most of the album features speed and a shitload of riffs in great quantity like the first song. Especially notable is TV-Hero, which is 6 minutes of thrashing madness which contains a shitload of riffs. Over ten different riffs and all awesome.

The other highlight is the title track, which starts with a slow but oh so vicious riff, and then goes into total riff madness plus a nice fucking solo. 'Feed The Lohocla' is also very nicely done.

The rest is also quite solid thrash, with the exception of two songs. 'Try Again' sounds like punk rock mixed with thrash. Rather weird, but hey, it works pretty decently. 'Mon Cheri' on the other hand, is absolute shit. Faster than 'Hang The Pope' by Nuclear Assault and possibly even more incoherent. Just pretend the album ends with 'Help Yourself', you'll really be helping yourself that way.

Overall, this is fun thrash at its best. Totally riff-oriented, fast as hell, catchy, it's trademark Tankard. If you like thrash, get this album!!

After the overwhelming classic German thrasher ‘Chemical Invasion’, Tankard mostly upgraded the production but the material was pretty much the same. ‘The Morning After’ would turn out to be their last full length album with Oliver Werner on drums. Who remains to this day my fave Tankard drummer due to his style.

‘Commandment’ is a simple straight forward thrasher with alcoholic lyrics and an aggressive sing-a-long chorus. Next highlight is the hardcorish thrasher ‘TV-Hero’ with once again has a catchy chorus but more in a happy kind of way due to the vocal line. ‘F.U.N.’ has a great funny intro and other hilarious details but in the end turned out to be a thrasher of the same format as ‘Commandment’ and one of the best songs on the album. These three songs uphold the standard that was set by their previous works. Other songs worth mentioning are the short Nuclear Assaultish thrashgrind song ‘Mon Cheri’ and the Spermbids cover ‘Try Again’. This cover is an improvement in terms of tightness and vocals and I really prefer this version to the original! The presence of it in this particular spot brings variation to the sound and enjoyability of the album.

Apart from these five songs ‘The Morning After’ was more of a regular straight forward thrash album and slightly less catchy than its predecessor. No lenghty songs, acoustic intros nor other kinds of intermezzos were to be found in the earlier amount, making the album less varied and enervating than ‘Chemical Invasion’ yet still a great album due to the sound and intensity of the material.