Album Review: #chilloutradio by Heathcliff

German punk rockers Heathcliff (yup, they're named after the cat) released their debut album #chilloutradio on March the 9th. Featuring eight tracks of blisteringly fast skate punk with elements of hardcore, metal and a tiny amount of reggae, it sounds interesting but is it any good? There's one way to find out!

#chilloutradio begins with the song Kim Nuke'em Vs Twittler. Starting out with an audio clip which is partly in German (so I couldn't understand) before we switch to a clip of that moron Donny Trump talking about nuclear weapons. Thankfully this doesn't last long as the band then launch into a political song about how Trump and Kim Jong-Un are like children arguing about who has the better nuclear weapons and how they should focus on more important things that will help people. This is such a hard hitting opening to the album lyrically as well as how the band seriously shred. The song is an instant energy booster. The second track, Who Told You To Grow Up Anyway?, has a slow start but then explodes into life with some soaring vocals and a fast paced drum beat really doing a fantastic job in continuing the energy from the opening song. I really enjoyed how the vocals grow in intensity as the song progresses, really making it feel as if the band is growing more and more passionate about what they're singing about as the track goes on. It's about growing up and having the perfect life but it not being the life for them. Something a lot of punk rockers will relate to.

STFU is the title of the albums third song. This track has more of a 90s skate punk feel to it, particularly bands like No Use For A Name or The Ataris who fell into the more pop side of the genre. I'm impressed with how Heathcliff can confidently pull off this style as well as the super technical stuff they showcased earlier on #chilloutradio. STFU looks at politicians and how they look to make a profit for themselves without caring for the people they serve. There's an audio clip layered over the top of an awesome guitar solo that adds a bit of emotion to the ending of the song which I thought was a great way to end the track. George W. Redneck is up next, bringing the intensity levels back up as drummer Basti plays like a man possessed on this song. I'm exhausted just listening to him. It's pretty obvious what the song is about, George Bush being a terrible president. Perhaps this song is a little outdated now but it's still such a good song. Heathcliff do an incredible job in blending the technical punk rock with the 90s skate punk with some fantastic guitar parts, those drums and some fantastic vocals. I found the final verse which starts out "Take to the streets‚ ’cause it’s time to make a stand, human rights are to defend. Some man are killing for personal gain." really quite empowering.

1933 brings us nicely into the second half of #chilloutradio. The song starts slowly, gradually building into a really powerful skate punk track. It's about growing up in post-war Germany realising how lucky you are to be free as it's more than likely your grandparents weren't but also believing that in ways it's still the same and how sad that is. This song really got to me, it's such a powerful and emotive song that really gets you thinking about things. I thought their use of gang vocal "whoa-ohs" at the end of the song was an absolutely inspired choice as they bring people together – really really amazing imagery to finish the song. Heathcliff really get intense again on the sixth song therules(dot)org. The song builds quickly with some more great shredding and some relentless drumming before we get a primal hardcore roar that really signals that the song is off and running and that Heathcliff are angry. They're fed up with the what society has become, with everybody seemingly looking out for themselves and not caring about everyone else. This is another empowering songs that really has me wanting to help make the world a better place. There's a really powerful verse where lead singer Flash mentions wanting to change the world to make it better for his young daughter. This was particularly moving.

The penultimate song is named Conjuring. Conjuring explores Heathcliff's most hardcore sound with some really raw screaming vocals that you might normally find in some death metal. They work very well in contrast to the higher, more melodic vocals that we've grown used to throughout #chilloutradio and it does a fantastic job of freshening up the sound of the album. It also helps to keep the intensity up as we're beginning to reach the end of the album. That is until we reach the end of the track and it morphs into a reggae song! This was quite the surprise but a fun way to finish after all that face melting. #chilloutradio finishes with the song Guacamole and features Bart from another German skate punk band – Straightline. It's basically a super fast punk rock song listing the ingredients of guacamole. Kind of random but a serious amount of fun.

I really did enjoy this album. Heathcliff could quickly become the hot new thing in the European skate punk scene – a scene that always seems to be going from strength to strength. If they can build from this serious impressive debut, I can see a lot of the big players in the genre taking notice of them.

Stream and download #chilloutradio here: https://heathcliff.bandcamp.com/releases

Like Heathcliff here: https://www.facebook.com/heathcliffskatepunk/

This review was written by Colin Clark.