Official website: www.letzte-instanz.de
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/letzteinstanz

Letzte Instanz plead "Schuldig" (Guilty)!

Guilty of taking a stand, musically as well as in terms of content. 13 new songs, touching lyrics and unambiguous statements aimed at the scene and beyond. Following their acoustic album to celebrate the band's anniversary, Letzte Instanz have come up with a codex for this kind of thing, their dogma being: "No messing about. Pure, dynamic rock music!" The recession is elsewhere, 2009 will see the band embark to new shores.

Mind you, it's never been easy to find the right musical pigeonhole for this band consisting of three Bavarians, three Saxons and a Berlin-born Istanbul resident. Although buzzwords such as brute romanticism, folk, gothic or rock may seem like appropriate cornerstones, the wide field in between evades categorisation. Always caught between two stools, yet straight to the heart.

The same applies to their new album, "Schuldig" which sounds all of a piece, despite its musical diversity. At the same time the fourth album recorded by this line-up is a statement to the German-speaking rock scene, and it's obvious that the band have gelled into a tight unit. "Schuldig" combines the strengths of their most recent productions and is still a departure to new shores, demonstrating a consistent development. Compared to its predecessor, "Wir sind Gold", however, it's a sensational bang. To cut a long story short: if "Wir sind Gold" is a gothic chanson, "Schuldig" is pure, unadulterated rock'n'roll. As if it was all about proving to the world that despite their forays into acoustic spheres, Letzte Instanz are still a rock band, and a loud one at that.

Perhaps the album benefits from the band's having entrusted their work to a producer again after two self-produced releases. Henning Verlage, renowned courtesy of his collaboration with "Unheilig", appreciates their trust and has returned the favour with a top-quality production. "Schuldig" almost has you feel a breath of the legendary Principal Studios (H-Blockx, Die Toten Hosen, In Extremo), where a large proportion of the album was produced, Vince Sorg, one of Germany's most sought-after mixers contributing the mix.

Whatever the reason – "Schuldig" is the most harmonious album by this septet, because the songs speak for themselves. "Eisherz", for example, makes your hair stand on end, allowing your coiffure to return to its original shape only after the last note of the song has faded away. "Mein Engel" comes along in a similarly rocky style, and "Traumlos" resolutely resists being a ballad. All this, however, is nothing in terms of savage power compared to "Feuer" – it may be a good idea to take your hi-fi off the shelf and place it on the floor.

Yet Letzte Instanz's brute rock side is only one facet. And while "Komm!" brings to mind that the band have always produced extremely danceable music, "Die Eine" stands for their folk roots, and "Flucht ins Glück", the first single to be lifted off the album, will work as a hit not only on the scene.

Among other factors, it's vocalist Holly's lyrics that make "Schuldig" a great recording. "Wann", for example, is about an inflation of values and demoralisation, challenging any individualist fuss, "Traumlos" tells the story of somebody who went forth to learn to love, "Die Eine" sees love turn to hate, and "Mein Engel" describes the transformation of a character trait into its opposite.

Yet most of the time, their lyrics defy clear interpretation, their approaches being much too ambiguous. Songs such as "Finsternis", "Vollmond" and "Eisherz" challenge their listeners to come up with their own interpretation, which is why the album's name is not explained. At the end of the day, it's a matter of opinion whether Letzte Instanz plead guilty – or find their listeners guilty.

The song, "Der Garten", on the other hand, allows but one interpretation: non- institutionalised faith is possible, religion can work beyond church tax and fanaticism. Vocalist Holly came up with the idea for these lyrics when he visited a mosque in his adopted city of Istanbul, where he met an old man who asked the singer about his faith. "I told him that I don't believe in the church but consider Jesus and Mohammed capable people," Holly explains. "The old man laughed, embraced me and gave me his praying cap." Letzte Instanz recorded the track with the Turkish singer, Aylin Aslim, with whom Holly shares not only his love of music but also his concept of faith: "She's not a Muslim, and I'm not a Christian, yet we both believe in God or Allah, and primarily in good," says Holly.

Along with Aylin, Jesus On Extasy pianist Leandra is another guest musician and also accompanied Instanz on their acoustic tour. She contributed the piano parts on "Dein Licht". Not only Aylin and Leandra can be proud, because this is doubtlessly Letzte Instanz's best album to date. It delights their fans, convinces former sceptics and has found friends from totally different musical camps. Congratulations!