When a record opens with a fairly long thunderous intro to the first song it can often signal one of two things: the rest of the record will be good or the rest of the record will suck. For German band King Lui Van Beethoven, the intro to the first track is lengthy (50 seconds) and it does have a thunderous quality, hence my apprehension was heightened as I was waiting to see which way "Troublemaking Anarchist" went. Fortunately, it took the path of distinction over the one of mediocrity, and thus began an enjoyable romp that had its feet in a number of camps in terms of either influences or reminding me of other bands.
KLVB does not come across as a group of shrinking violets, and the huge sounding intro to that first track is how the music is approached almost entirely throughout this, the band's sophomore long-player. Guitars are big and loud, the rhythm section helps boost this sound further and with some gruff vocals added on top, this all goes together to morph into a mighty melodic punk racket.
Over the 11 tracks I certainly hear moments that bring to mind the likes of Social Distortion and Nothington from the U.S., the Abs, HDQ, Stay Clean Jolene and Leatherface from the U.K. and also the Decline from France. In fact I would be massively surprised if anyone in KLVB denied that Leatherface had provided some influence in their music as it's there hear throughout the album: they're not peddling a new take on punk rock but they are utilizing a well known approach to their advantage.
One of more than a big handful of highlights on the album is the second track "Brick Tamland/998," which has concurrently been self-released as the lead song on a 7", which is a huge track with group vocals that have quite a street punk feel to them. Another of the songs which really sticks out is at the other end of the album; "Whatever This Is" has more of an emotive vocal to it and that manages to lift the track up a notch or two in terms of additional quality, and creates an anthemic feel to the song. A third of the way through the release is the excellent "We're More Than Abstract Names ân Numbers," which opens with a guitar lead that is immensely catchy and the song maintains that feature from start to finish.
There's something heartening about a sound that comes across as having such a huge melodic presence which is impossible to ignore, not that I want to, and this quality helps make this is a stand out release. If you are interested in any of the bands mentioned in the third paragraph then you could do a lot worse than check this out.