nulldB come from Würzburg in Germany and in 2008 won the ”German Rock and Pop Award” as the best newcomer in the category ”Hard ‘n’ Heavy”. In 2009 they released their debut album ”In the Eye of the Storm”.
The bands biography describes them as ”Neue Deutsche Härte” (New German Hardness), which I have to say isnt a term I was familiar, but after some digging it turns out to be a a style that is influenced by German rock, alternative metal, hard rock along with elements from electronica and techno, and the genre includes bands such as Rammstein, Stahlmann, ASP and Die Apokalyptischen Reiter.
If you’re expecting a Rammstein clone, then you’re out of luck – while there are some similarities at times, NulldB are very different to Rammstein. As you can probably guess from the track listing below, NulldB sing in German (something that until recently was almost unheard of – for instance back in the 80s pretty much all the German metal bands sang in English).
Listening to the album the fact that it’s a blend of different genres is really clear. Opening track ”Tyrannei” reminded me of System of a down, but ”Endzeit” has a very different sound. One of the bonus tracks on the limited edition, ”Büchse der Pandora” has an opening section that’s very nu-metal and reminded me of Limp Bizkit. Prominent keyboard electronic sounds at the start of ”Roter regen” and during ”Kinder des Zorns” give a hint of the electronic/techno roots of the genre.
A great album – the different genres that have merged to make the Neue Deutsche Härte genre mean there is a really interesting diversity in the sound and there’s plenty to interest a wide range of fans.
Endzeit is out now on AFM records
1. Tyrannei
2. Endzeit
3. Roter Regen
4. Kinder des Zorns
5. Kaltes Herz
6. Versuch es doch
7. Leben
8. Taub Blind Stumm
9. Freiheit
10. Die Jagd beginnt
11. Flucht (Bonus)
12. Deja Vu (Bonus)
13. Büchse der Pandora (Bonus)
