A Review of Tankard’s “A Girl Called Cerveza”

Tankard, the self proclaimed “Kings of Beer” are back in full force! The four-piece thrash outfit from Frankfurt, Germany have released their fifteenth studio album, A Girl Called Cerveza, and they have not lost a step over the last twenty-six years. This album stands up there with such legendary Tankard albums as 1986’s Zombie Attack, 87’s Chemical Invasion, and 88’s The Morning After.

Band: Tankard
Album: A Girl Called Cerveza
Genre: Thrash Metal
Label: Nuclear Blast
Release Date: July 27th, 2012

The album opens with the blistering “Rapid Fire (A Tyrants Elegy)”. The track starts with a nice melodic lead guitar lick, but immediately kicks into a nice fast pace thrashing, which is what we’ve all come to know and love from these German speed freaks. The double bass in this song definitely makes it live up to its name.

The album’s title track, “A Girl Called Cerveza” immediately follows, and it really hit home for this particular reviewer. It covers a topic I’m sure we’re all more than slightly familiar with: going to the bar, getting wasted and coming home with a ham-beast. This song features shattering double bass, and some really awesome thrash riffing from guitarist Andreas Gutjahr. It’s definitely a stand-out track.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgCRPriksBk]

The song “Running on Fumes” closes the album, and it is really a heavy hitter. Don’t let the clean intro fool you, this song has fast riffing and double bass a-plenty.

Overall, this album is what you would expect from Tankard, in-your-face thrash metal. What else would you expect from an album that features ex-Warlock vocalist Doro Pesch? This album really does have everything thrashers crave: thundering double bass, chainsaw riffing, pounding bass lines, in-your-face vocals, and a cameo by someone my dad wanted to bang in the 80s. What else could you possibly ask for?