MERRY-GO-ROUND

This release finds Grobschnitt in a bit of a holding pattern. It's not bad by any means, but by now the frayed edges are beginning to show. Mist is now credited with "keyboard-castle" in the liner notes, having acquired a bunch of fancy new synthesizers. He uses them quite well throughout, and is easily the standout instrumentalist on the disc.

Songwriting is where this one leaves a bit to be desired. The title song is enchanting, but "A.C.Y.M." is little more than a semi-incoherent rant about the commercialization of the music industry inspired by seeing the Village People on TV. And the other tracks, well, there's a bit of up and down there. Like I said, nothing bad, but little stands out. "COKE-Train" is a bit amusing (about Coca-Cola making its way to China, perhaps "Bite The Wax Tadpole" might have been a more apropos title?) and "Du schaffst das nicht" is a fairly compelling, largely instrumental piece. But it's not Grobschnitt's finest hour by a long shot. Good, but not great.