FRIEDHOF-FRIEDHOF-

This German outfit popped up in the beginning of 1970 and their only release came in 1971. A hard mix of Prog/psych/krautrock/proto rock left the band unnoticed at the time and soon they vanished into obscurity.

This is a though album to get a grip upon, the production sounds like a sewerpipe with bad sustain and terrible interaction between instruments. Yet it is a personal audioframe that delivers strange and unheard melodies from the time period. My first impression was “Oh a mental institution having a blast” but after a couple of spins on the turntable, you can actually get some kind of grip of the songs. Friedhof translates into graveyard and that is just what this band aims for. Dark, gloomy presence and maybe a hint of Tony Iommi style riffing on the guitar. All songs are instrumental and as a background spinning you tend to swing your mood in favor of some of the songs. With title´s like “Orgasmus” “undertaker´s song” and “Setting sun” I think you get the Picture that this isn´t a lovers album.

Whatabout the drummer, Rainer Bartl?? Well this guy is certainly out in the Woods sometimes but there are some signs of progression and interaction amongs a few tunes. Nothing to put on social media as a brainchild Discovery. In my opinion the weakest link.

I can understand finding a better drummer to this material must have been  “finding the Holy Grail” kind of task. So, better than nothing this guy have to do. Not impressed.

This album serves only one purpose and that is if you are really looking for obscurity from the 70´s and thought you Heard it all. Nothing for us that really likes Music in a more arranged way and with melodies. But it is a funny record to benchmark as a real oddity. 🙂

VINYLRATING/GRADE

2-CRAP-A DISAPPOINTMENT-