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ANNISOKAY ‘Arms’

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Get ready everybody because one of the albums of the year is about to drop. Now don’t panic because unless you are a fan of German underground music then it is highly unlikely that you have heard of Annisokay before… mark my words though after the release of their new album Arms they are band that everybody will know about.

Hailing from Germany Annisokay have been developing a name for themselves in their home country for a number of years now. Taking their name from answering Michael Jackson’s question in ‘Smooth Criminal’ the band kept the Jackson love going with an EP full of covers hailing the King Of Pop. Now signed to Arising Empire Annisokay have made sure that their third full length album is an album with no weakness of any kind to be heard.

As I told a friend how much I loved this album they asked me what my favourite track was on the album, it hit me right there and then just how hard of a question that is to answer. Arms is an album made up of brilliant metalcore where every track is good enough to be a single… picking a favourite is near impossible because they are all so bloody good.

Arms explodes to life with the manic ‘Coma Blue’. The opening sees sheer brutality an onslaught of all instruments made even harsher by the amazing growls of Dave Grunewald. Then comes one of the songs of the year the very heavy and at times very electronic ‘Unaware’ and it is here that you start falling totally in love with this album.

The melodic clean vocals of Christoph Wieczorek lift ‘Good Stories’ to epic levels while the brilliant ‘Fully Automatic’ just shows how great Annisokay really is. Not only is it the kind of song that you want to listen to over but it is thought provoking lyrics on gun violence touches on the Columbine school massacre, John Lennon’s assassination while also containing lyrics such as ‘such a long time since I held a gun, such a long time since the west was won.’ It has an almost country and western feel but is pure metalcore.

The thought provoking lyrics continue on ‘Sea Of Trees’ which explores the heart-breaking theme of suicide and declares ‘your pain won’t die with you’. The track obviously comes from a personal place and its power can be felt throughout.

The ever changing Annisokay sound is present right through Arms. ‘Innocence Was Here’ almost sounds like VAST in parts, while ‘Humanophobia’ is the right mix of brutality and electronica as it declares ‘most humans never kill anyone.’ ‘Escalators’ is a mixture of catchiness and again sheer brutality while ‘End Of The World,’ ‘Private Paradise’ and ‘One Second’ are all smooth tracks that show the true class of Annisokay.

Arms is one of the must have albums of 2018. A great introduction to a band that everybody just has to know about this album is pure brilliance and is five stars all the way.

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