Album Review: Veritas Maximus - Faith and Will

After successful withdrawal, Kevin Russell is the "voice from the gutter" back. And how he's back! Like a phoenix from the ashes, he has emerged from the darkest times of his life with a clear wit and an iron will to show the world what he is capable of. With his solo comeback of his band «Veritas Maximus» The debut album «Glaube und Wille» is due at the end of May and Kevin is highly motivated, writes, draws, designs his future and is finally enjoying real, drug-free life. We were allowed to listen to the material exclusively and in advance and find out how much Böhse Onkelz has in his new band.

All of the lyrics to the new songs on "Glaube und Wille" were penned by Kevin Russell. They seem like an essence of his decades-long journey through all the ups and downs of life. But "Veritas Maximus» are not one, but five. On the joint "Ein Onkel wird honor" tour in 2013 and during the recordings in Frankfurt's Studio23, they have grown into a solid unit and are dying to knock their new sound out of the loudspeakers. Kevin Russell screams the lyrics from his soul on this album, paired with the melodies and riffs of songwriter and guitarist Oliver Lohmann, completed by the passion and hard beats of guitarist Simon Gauf, bassist Thomas Neitsch and drummer Gerd Lücking. «Veritas Maximus» is the blunt truth, straight and straight in the face.

Veritas Maximus - Kevin Russell - Image Tilt (Official Video)

Much has been said and more has been written, much is true and others are not. Hate and love - always the old game. Kevin Russell, singer of the Böhsen Onkelz, is truly not a blank slate. On the contrary, pronounced dead and written off, hated, adored and resurrected from the depths of human tragedy, the depths of being, to tell its own story. Sincere and honest. Homo Novus with sharpened senses, freed from the scourges of addiction. The debut album is reflection, reckoning and self-therapy. The cornerstone of a new life and essence of change and willpower. No less than a new chapter full of facets and independence.

"Glaube und Wille" is an album with strong metal elements, mixed with dirty street rock, but without falling stylistically in one direction or the other. With "No power to drugs" an opener was found that thematically revolves around half of the singer's life. Who would have expected a slightly Thrashy board right from the start? Metallic riffing meets poisonous vocals, then punk rock takes over in the chorus. On "Know Thyself" Russell asks himself, "What did I do wrong? Why am I not happy?" Massive seventies rock, which loosely flakes into your ears. The rather Onkelz-heavy "Heimat" is lyrical, rhythmically lively and drinkable in the chorus. In it, Kevin sings about the concept of homeland, which he thinks is far too narrow. One of the more catchy songs on the disc is "Honesty," a no-frills classic rock number that thrives on Russell's famously throaty vocals. A play about the lust for free speech Russell enjoys these days.

"Advocate of Evil" is the hit of the album! Here the band shows psychedelic facets and convinces with a melancholic, aggressive mood in which Russell deals with the atrocities of the church. A song with great dynamics and imaginative twists. «Flying Wings of Destiny» is a beautiful semi-ballad in which Kevin sings melodically like never before and the lyrics are also convincing. "Bild Tilt" targets the tabloid press, "Kein Ende" reflects on the vastness of the cosmos, which Russell believes cannot be understood with our current knowledge, and with "Satansmedium" the singer attacks the Internet and the long-term effects on the social behavior of its users. A song that has already been played live and is a successful mix of rock and metal. The Onkelz rocked in a similar way in the early to mid-nineties. At the end of the consistently successful album, the listener is smitten with "Des Teufels Geleit", a twelve-minute history volume in two parts, which again deals with church history and represents an absolutely worthy end to "Glaube und Wille".

Veritas Maximus - The Little Satans Medium - Live in Neu-Isenburg October 31.10.2013, XNUMX

In «Glaube und Wille», Kevin Russell tells and processes his very own story sincerely and honestly together with his four musician friends. One expects musical self-therapy in this way and no other way. A kind of coming to terms with the past and «Veritas Maximus» don't give a fuck about the zeitgeist with their debut. A thoroughly successful debut, both musically, lyrically and sonically. Anyone who expects a sterile studio production will certainly be disappointed, because here the lasting impression counts more than the individual hook line. Fans of the mid-nineties Onkelz, who found it too experimental in the end, are served on the disc just as much as rock fans who meet Kevin Russell with open ears and wait for new approaches. Kevin Russell sets the tone again, poisonous, bilious and so direct you have rarely heard the former Böhse Onkelz frontman. The album should resonate and it does. A middle finger to the expectations of all of us.

You can do the album buy in our shop.

tracklist

1. No power to drugs
2. Recognize yourself
3. Veni Vidi Veritas
4. Home
5. Honesty
6. Defender of Evil
7. Wings of fortune
8. Image tilt
9. No end
10. Satan medium
11. Noah's heirs
12. The devil's escort

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