Lammkotze / Lammplugged - Wehende Fahnen

Randale Records

 

Although active since 2003, I never really took interest in Germany’s Lammkotze before, and the reason is pretty prejudice. Germany brought some of the best Oi! and punk bands out there, but also a whole slew of mediocre, unlistenable shit. For some reason I thought Lammkotze belonged in the last category, without ever hearing a full album by the lads. By receiving “Wehende Fahnen” for review, the latter part finally changed though, but did my biased opinion?

 

Short and simple, it did! Due to the above prejudgment and the fact that half of “Wehende Fahnen” is unplugged, I definitely was a bit worried though, but as soon as the first chords of the album kicked in I realized it was all for nothing!  With a sound that somewhat sounds like a mix between The Templars and later Vogelfrei, Lammkotze immediately has my attention with opener “Raus Auf Die Straβen” and the following track “Wehende Fahnen”, almost making me feel embarrassed about the fact that I never checked these guys out before! I love that clean sound, the German vocals are spot on and that melancholic touch in the title-track strongly reminds me of those days I couldn’t listen to anything but the “Mutmacher” LP, excellent! Definitely my favorite two of the ‘plugged-side’, though “Brennt Die Bude Nieder” and “Nicht Meine Stadt” are pretty damn good as well!

 

So far “Wehende Fahnen” is only released as a CD, but if it ever comes out on LP (and I reckon it will), the Lammplugged portion of the album is obviously the B-side. Kicking things off with Mr. Acoustic himself Tim Steinfort (Discharger), Lammkotze delivers one of their rare (and on this album their only) English tracks, and it surprises me in a very positive way. Especially a few songs later when an acoustic version of the title-track, including female vocals (by Aline Allgeier, no clue who that is) and a violin for that extra melodramatic touch, pops up, only to round things up with an upbeat ode to their hometown in “Meine Stadt”, nice!

 

So yeah, even my skepticism can be off-radar sometimes. Then again, I’m just like anyone else and I don’t pretend to know it all either, I’m just glad I received this album, because this is the German Oi!-sound that I love!