ENIf you’re looking for hard core, full-throttle rock n roll, you’ll find it with OHRENFEINDT, who are a German three piece from Hamburg-St Pauli. The band celebrates their tenth album with the release of “Wenn Der Teufel Anruft,” which I believe translates as “When the Devil Calls.” While the band sings in German, that doesn’t seem to be a hindrance to enjoy them. The vocals, melody and rhythm all seem familiar, you think you already know these songs, even if you don’t understand the words. The music is full-throttle, hard driving blues based rock. The guitars are loud, the rhythm full of blues based riffs, the vocals are rough, the bass driving, and the drums thundering. While OHRENFEINDT cite Nazareth, Deep Purple, and Led Zeppelin as their influences, the biggest influence is AC/DC. These guys have captured the essence of AC/DC, and made it their own.

 The first track is “Rakte”. The first thing you hear is a countdown, much like a rocket launch, and when it hits zero, the band explodes. The song starts with a simple chord progression, then leading into a rhythm that easily belongs on an AC/DC album. The riff sounds so familiar. Like all the songs on here, “Wir Spielen Rock N’ Roll,” translated "WE Play Rock N Roll," starts off with a good driving riff. This riff carries the verses, by adding rests and expanding it. There are some whoa chants and a little bit of english in the chorus, “Whooa wir splielen rock n’ roll, Whooa welcome to the show.” More kicking loud guitar and thundering rhythm drive the song, “Yeehaw.” Again, it's a simple song that kicks, with a simple chorus that chants the title. I would guess that the song is about cars and/or racing as there’s a speaking part in English just before the solo. In an electronic voice, it asks, “driver, are you ready?” With the singer answering that he was born ready.

The stereotypical ballad for this album is “Sturm.” This comes across as any other power ballad, starting slow with just vocals and soft guitar. Then the rest of the band comes in about the chorus, emphasizing the beats while holding big guitar chords. While most of the lyrics are in German, once in a while you can pick out an English word, or get a feel for the song. Such is the case with “Ich Sing De Din Blues.” I’m guessing it’s about singing some kind of blues. This is a down and dirty electric blues song, taking a blues riff electrifying it and amping it up. It would be nice to be able to understand the lyrics, as I don’t know German. However, many times I don’t know what a lot of English songs are about. What I do know, is “Wenn Der Teufel Anruft” is high energy rock n roll with loud crunchy guitars, raspy vocals, driving bass and thundering drums. They may be a German AC/DC, but it’s still great.