CD REVIEW: BRAZENLINX – Vienna Don’t Fret

Shane | 20 June 2017 | Reply

CD REVIEW: BRAZENLINX – Vienna Don’t Fret
Independent
January 2017
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
7 ½ /10

Led by Australian viola player Gejza Jurth, Vienna’s Brazenlinx make a highly original shot for hard rocking metal glory by featuring just vocalist Peter Dürr, drummer Urge Kirchner and cellist Alex Graf.

It’s not a unique idea – Apocalyptica have been making heavy metal with cellos for years – but it is still unusual enough to mean they are a sonic and visual curiosity as much as anything on the metal landscape. Whilst the sonic results are intriguing and definitely add a different element to the music of guitars, only time will tell if their great songs and performance will help them rise above novelty status.

The main thing though, is that their songs are that good, and their sound different enough to help them go the distance.

Divided into three parts, the first section of four tracks have very upbeat, positive messages: Ultimate, Perfect Balance, Go Getters, In The Plan. Dürr’s powerful clean vocals lead from the front, whilst Jurth and Graf’s strings provide not only a hard rocking bedrock for the band, but also a platform for some frenzied soloing. There’s also plenty of opportunity for audiophiles to analyse the sound and see how it differs from a more traditional electric guitars and bass ensemble.

Part II is darker, more tumultuous – You Lose, a transformed cover of Sisters Of Mercy’s More, and Beware – before Part III muses upon the fleeting nature of our existence in Death Row and Fortune Cookie, before Wanna Live Forever? and Solution bring us to the climax.

The parallels with classical music are obvious: this is a story about monumental themes, a piece of music divided into movements, with a revolutionary sonic approach.