Review ALLIGATOAH ‘off’

Alligatoah is an artist some of you might have heard of but maybe not have listened to. One of the reasons might be the fact, that the singer is more connected to rap and pop than rock and metal. Even more, one of the songs on the latest studio album is entitled ‘Fuck Rock’n’Roll’.

The more surprising is the new album called ‘off’ and according to the label info it is the ‘Hybrid Theory’-album in Aalligatoah’s discography. Now, this comparison might take things a bit too far yet ‘off’ comes with a totally different musical approach.

There are still some rap elements embedded in the the songs of the new longplayer and some pop-driven melodies are present too. At the same time, ‘off’ is dark and includes some heavy guitars which no one really expected from Alligatoah and it is Kreator’s mainman Mille who contributed with a solo for ‘ICH, ICH, ICH’. The sound reminds very much of the 90s when nu metal and crossover gained momentum. It was also the time when Lukas Strobel, aka Alligatoah, faced his musical imprint that included bands like Limp Bizkit and Guano Apes. While listening to the album I also had to think about bands like Die Schweisser – due to sound and the German lyrics.

But let’s go back to the bands that influenced Alligatoah. The singer could convince Fred Durst to add vocals to ‘SO RAUS’ and what should I say, the voices go together very well. Next to ‘SO RAUS’ is ‘MENSCHLICHES VERSAGEN’ a song that features a guest, or better guests. Guano Apes, incl. singer Sandra Nasić, give the song its extra and makes ‘MENSCHLICHES VERSAGEN’ to a cool track on ‘off’. Last but not least it rap-colleague Bausa, who added some words to ‘WEIßE ZÄHNE’ while Tarek K.I.Z. sings ‘PARTNER IN CRIME’ together with Alligatoah. The latter sounds like a nice pop rock anthem but when you listen to the lyrics you find out, that the song isn’t sweet and lovely at all.

The crossover ambition runs wild in the furious ‘WER LACHT JETZT’ and also ‘KÜSSEN’ is anything but a love song.

Last but not least the album als entails a cover version. Alligatoah placed the No Angels anthem ‘DAYLIGHT’ at the end of the album and as not expected differently the version a totally rearranged one with heavy guitars. The vocals stay rather melodic yet there are hoarse shouts which throw a monkey wrench into the melodic pop sweetness.

‘off’ a hybrid of different genres and it is a brave step of a singer to move into uncharted territory. It feels like Alligatoah musically came to a fork in the road and decided to walk towards a new direction. If ‘off’ is just a few steps into a new musical experiment or a lasting readjustment of the musical compass is what the future will tell. So far the album might be interesting for nu metal fans and kids from the 90s.