Tankard - R.I.B. (2014) Lossless

And so we arrived to a point that only few bands ever reach. Tankard has now released over 15th studio albums consisting of new, original songs. And what a journey it has been. Throughout the years they have faced a zombie attack, a porno mag stealing, beer drinking alien and a full scale chemical invasion among others. The last 14 years have witnessed a somewhat of a revival in the quality of their material even though a masterpiece may be missing still. "A Girl Called Cerveza" was a surprisingly vigorous effort from the German beer-horde, luckily "R.I.B" doesn't fall far.
Tankard is still Tankard, thrashing and sawing riffs meet melodic solos and the guys are no strangers to a more swinging, grooving take on their playing (don't take this the wrong way it's all thrash here). Gerre is as recognizable as before if not as raw as on "The Morning After", which of course is understandable given the time between. Even if "R.I.B" is a quality 666-pack of beer to the thirsty people I still spy (but not with my eyes) a little more recycling than I would like. Never does the feeling take over so strongly that I would seek to befriend the skip-button so the fault is not a very great one. "R.I.B" is fittingly a 40-minute long effort which means that it doesn't lose quality due to the similarity of the songs like the longer efforts of the band. While there are no clear highlights, no song falls especially short either and what is a rather astonishing feat for a band as old as Tankard, this homogeneity doesn't turn into a negative quality.
The production is as good as on the predecessors. Every instrument - even bass - can be heard, but it's not really too noteworthy. Sadly this is not a standard amongst modern metal bands, so let us rejoice that at least the veterans know how to make a good sounding album in 2014. If a highlight had to be named, I'd call the title track and "Breakfast For Champions". I also enjoyed the Running Wild-ish "Riders of the Doom". As expected the band plays to it's strength meaning you won't find crazy shredding or weird arrangements. Instead "R.I.B" comes loaded with semi-melodic singing and catchy choruses with simplistic riffing. Tankard doesn't reinvent themselves, but instead still drinks the old ways (totally a pun intended).
Tankard fans know what they are getting and won't be disappointed. If you're new to Tankard or thrash, I recommend starting with Chemical Invasion.