Last year I reviewed the Münster, Germany-based d-beat band Alpinist’s first full length, Minus.Mensch. Since first hearing of their work, through Minus.Mensch, I’ve tracked down the rest of their albums and demos. While the former was much more of a Tragedy worship, their newest album, Lichtlærm keeps the d-beat and moves onto a new direction for the band. The love for crusty d-beat is still there but they try harder to not emulate Tragedy’s sound.

Typically, a band’s second full-length is more often than not one of their best albums. It’s like the second time in anything. Sex, riding a bike, etc. You just pick up where you left off and do a better job. Well, that’s what we all hope for anyway. Lichtlærm displays Alpinist’s musical prowess with great success. The first three cuts on the album are brutally-efficient in their d-beat and crusty ways and then comes “Licht”, a lumbering instrumental song, straight out of a doom band. It feeds directly into “Yarncarrier And Break”. Those two track’s pairing is the most successful union on the album but “Neverest” is hands-down my favorite execution on Lichtlærm.

Check out the rest of my review, including a free-download link at the Mishka Bloglin.