Immortal, Always
Christopher | Wengen-en-esprit | 03/09/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Unsterblich is Immortal, or deathless. A friend got me into Die Toten Hosen like I got him into Camille Saint-Saëns. He used to play this where we worked at the University of Colorado. I would stay late into the early dawn hiding in the bowels of Macky Auditorium, working on films and being creative, blasting this music when I was near a CD player. This music will always remind me of those wonderful days.
The music is awesome. Nearly every song is catchy, and I try to phonetically sing along. This first few tracks are noisy and what some people term German punk, or whatever punk du jour they can think of.
To me, the album begins with track 4, Wofür man lebt (For Which One Lives), a slow piece that uses a darkly tuned piano to create a glowing atmosphere.
Track 5 - Helden und diebe (Hero and Thief). This track morphs out of Wofür man lebt with quiet strings playing a single note that lasts for the first two and a quarter minutes...the guitars play a quiet motif, building up, and then Campino cries out, "Eins, zwei, drei, vier!" and the music just breaks out. This is probably my favorite song.
Track 10 - Unsterblich. Amazing. This song is incredible as well. It's a quieter piece that builds up for the entire length. Don't compare it to Live's "Lightning Strikes," which starts off far more quietly and takes forever to get anywhere. This piece is beautiful.
Track 12 - Call of the Wild. It's in English! Yay! Not only that, this is one of the most rocking songs on here. The percussion is all over the place, the guitars are shredding, and the piece just has a chunk-chunk rhythm to it until the chorus breaks out and everyone's screaming. Great track!
Track 13 - Unser haus (Our House). A dark track with synthesized orchestras, one playing smooth strings, the other a reverbed plucking. The piece is short, but undecidedly eerie.
Track 14 - Regen (Rain). Great use of musical onomatopoeia. The guitars sound like plip-plops of raindrops, speedily whipping you into a torrential downpour. If I knew German, I'm sure there's more going on here than just rain.
Track 16 - Bayern (Bavaria). Not sure what they want to sing about Bavaria for, but my friend says their songs can be humorous and they will sing about football (soccer). I bet this is one of those tracks. Lucky for me, it's catchy and a good listen.
Track 18 - Die unendlichkeit (Infinity). Here are those eerie synthesized strings again, sans reverb. This piece is another small, dark gem, one that's somewhat of a sad parting as it is the last song on the album. There is actually a tiny tiny tiny guitar solo at the end, acoustic I believe.
These are the tracks that mean a little something to me, and I also think they are the best tracks here."
Not bad ... not bad at all
Christopher | 12/14/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I only recently discovered Die Toten Hosen, and I have become quite fond of Unsterblich. I have listened to a fair amount of their older music, and though some of it is also good, I really find Unsterblich to be their best. I don't really know whom I should compare them to - some of my other favorite bands are Radiohead, Tool, and Pink Floyd, so I'm not very familiar with 'punk' (though I wouldn't call Unsterblich punk at all). Wofür man lebt, Helden und Diebe, and Unsterblich are truly great. :)"
A triumph!
Eric B | North Dakota | 04/28/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The hosen have again come out with a wonderful new album, "UNSTERBLICH". There are a lot of punk type sounds, and most pleasingly, some gorgeous orchestra music on a few pieces. Normally most bands will lose their luster after 2 or three albums, but I'm happy to report that those magnificent Hosen although the sound has changed a little bit, they are still as good as the old hosen, if not better. This new album is a must have to your collection!"
Track Listings (9) - Disc #1