Folk Rock, Rock

Knasterbart – Perlen vor die Säue (Review)

Artist: Knasterbart
Album: Perlen vor die Säue
Genre: Folk Rock
Country: Germany
Release date: 29th of November, 2019
Released via Napalm Records
Cover artwork © Napalm Records, 2019

Today we will try something completely different. Me personally, I like roleplaying games and it doesn’t matter if it’s on the computer, on my PS4, or even, very classic, on the desk with some friends and call it Pen&Paper. Maybe some of you heard of Dungeons&Dragons? Maybe you remember the scenes in the first episode of Stranger Things? But there is also another kind of roleplaying games and I DO NOT TALK about the ones your parents are doing in bedroom.

Sometimes I get dressed up as a knight or a druid and meet with some other guys in the woods or on some castles that are used as youth hostels. Yeah I know, that sounds even worse than the stuff your parents do, shut up you…that is called LARP, Live Action Role Play. Some guys meeting in the woods, dressed up as knights, demons, druids, wizards, elves, dwarfs and anything else you can think of. They hit each other with some weapon replicas made of foam and latex, (and I absolutely know that this way of description doesn’t make it better) and at night after some awesome adventures, they sit together at a bonfire or in a tavern tent and get drunk. That’s – in my opinion – the best part of a LARP-weekend.

For the right atmosphere you will surely need some music. Now you think of a bard singing his songs, but have you ever listened to some real bard’s songs? After a few boring songs you will start getting “Death Metal”, hang him up and wish for some blood – this lets you think about some decapitations or stuff like that. We want to get drunk, we want to party. We need it dirty, rotten, filthy, stinky…(and I do not talk about your parents now…) and you will be happy, if some guys like the ones from Knasterbart enter the tavern in this moment.

So the main character in the band is Hotze Knasterbart, played by Malte Hoyer, the singer from Versengold, a quite famous band in the Folk-/Medieval music scene. Hotze is one of his characters he plays in LARP and he started to do some music. Hotze got together with Fummelfips, better known as Mr.Hurley by Mr. Hurley & Die Pulveraffen, another band connected to LARP, but with a more Caribbean flair – they are pirates. After some time there were some more musicians and the duo became an actual band. In 2012 Hotze self-released the first album called Sauf Mich Schön, in 2014 the band Knasterbart released Branntwein für Alle and in 2015 Sauf Mich Schön was re-released. Super Knasterbart was released in 2016 and now, at the end of 2019, we get Perlen vor die Säue.

That was quite a long intro for a review that I wanted to do fast and short. Failed. So let’s have a look at the new release: 12 tracks with a playtime of 47 minutes, most of the songs somewhere between 3 and 5 minutes. Guitars, electric and acoustic ones, bass, and drums are supported by violine, mandoline and also some keys. In most of the songs you can find some radio play effects or intros, which will remind you of Tom&Jerry or stuff like that.

The band is all about fun and party. So, don’t take it to serious please. Just think of a few filthy-looking guys playing some party-folk, with topics like tavern brawls (“Kneipenschlägerei”), sexual references (“Laich mich ein”) as well as alcohol abuse (nearly every song 😛 ). But there is also a little dark satirical side in some songs, when they sing about the circle of life and killing animals, because they killed other animals and humanity has to help to keep nature’s balance (“Bambis Mama”)…they have to do it. So we can hear a modern production here, in my opinion a little too modern for this kind of music. In my opinion they could do less of the effects and keep it more natural. You will find different musical references like a typical Rock’n’Roll song (“Ringelpiez Vom Kiez”), some Calypso (“Laich mich ein”), as well as a song that sounds like a Spaghetti-Western (“Muss-ketier”). Hey, and there is a very special Christmas song as well (“Herzchen im Schnee”).

The biggest problem is that the funniest stuff of the band are the German puns in all the lyrics, which are elemental to get into the band, the concept and its humor. And then there are people who don’t like humor in their music. This kind of music belongs on medieval-markets, LARP-events or similar. I would rarely listen to them, when I wanted to listen to some music. If I wanted to hear Malte, I would choose Versengolds Nacht der Balladen.

Nonetheless, it’s a well-played, funny album and I’m looking forward to see the guys again on the MPS (Mittelalter Phantasie Spectaculum) or maybe this winter on tour with Subway to Sally.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
6/10 – if sober

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
8/10 – if drunk with friends

As usual, we added the favorite track(s) to our Transcended Review Playlist.

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