TAUREIF - Zwei Welten

13 songs
50:47 minutes
***** ****
Noiseworks

Bandpage

Although Noiseworks Records display a fair amount of eclectism when it comes to releasing CDs of still unknown bands, I have - for most of the time - come to expect something similar to alternative rock music, sometimes noisier, sometimes more experimental. That's why I was totally upset the first time I listened to the tauReif CD Zwei Welten. This was not noise, was overly melodic, had melodic saxophone solos and a lot of guest instrumentation you normally only find in classical music.

So I gave the band one more chance, and another, and so on... and still thought I disliked it, but then couldn't get it out of my stereo anymore. The reason is this: I have a weak point for progressive rock, and the more I listened to tauReif, the more they reminded me of Anyone's Daughter, a German prog band that was a little popular in the early Eighties. You get it all here: fragile but emotional vocals, very thoroughly composed music that's mostly pop added with a lot of saxophone. Very cheesy, but still pretty string arrangements, and a whole bunch of weirder instruments.

The (German) vocals are very poetic, don't always make sense to me, but that's ok for someone like me who never read a poem. Here are some highlights: the opener Januskopf display perfectly the intelligent and melodic songwriting to expect from tauReif, the multi-vocalised Kinderspiel is a German analogue to Gentle Giant, and Im Regen has a more folky, less proggy touch.

Don't get me wrong: progressive rock doesn't mean here breaks and odd time signatures, but rather very sophisticated songwriting and... if Anyone's Daughter were called proggy, then this is even more so.

This is no alternative rock, and anyone who needs noisy guitars or at least a heavy beat should not even have read this review, but people who dare to listen to something a lot mellower will come to love this album. Remember, I hated it, then thought it was ok, and now I listen to it all the time. 9 very subjective points.