Album review: Electric Callboy – Tekkno
German electronicore mob Electric Callboy continue to troll their haters on sixth album, Tekkno.
If you explained to someone, poorly, what Bring Me The Horizon sound like, what they'd hear in their head isn't too far away from Electric Callboy. A marriage of pop, metal, melodic punk and dance, everything they do is performed with maxed-out energy and (an admittedly knowing) sense of the ridiculous. It is exhausting, in that same way too much energy drink can actually make you feel exhausted. On Tekkno, they are relentless in this.
First the good: We Got The Moves has an agreeable enough, Rammstein-ish stomp, the chugging bits of opener Pump It are satisfyingly heavy, the keyboardy metal of Mindreader is genuinely good and the best thing here, and closing track Neon is well-versed in the art of the big Euro-metal chorus as perfected by In Flames in about 2004. Problem is, they can't get through a song without doing something irritating.
The vocals are annoying, the disparate elements of the music are all so brightly coloured that often they refuse to mix, instead talking loudly over each other like unfunny people who think the best bit of a joke is in how loudly you tell it.
This is obviously half the point, and the band are clearly enjoying themselves (and, indeed, trolling those who don't dig it). But the novelty is stretched so far that it's hard to see past it and actually appreciate anything here. Tekkno? Tekk no thanks.
Verdict: 2/5
For fans of: Falling In Reverse, Brokencyde, 3OH!3
Tekkno is out now via Century Media