I always knew this band but due to a strange cosmic conspiracy I had never listened to a whole album of theirs. Additionally, I always had the impression that SUBWAY TO SALLY was something between RAMMSTEIN and IN EXTREMO. So let me try to clear things out: their ninth full-length release under the cool title Bastard proved to be a nice opportunity for me to finally make this acquaintance.
SUBWAY TO SALLY were obviously formed in Germany and so obviously somewhere in 1990. Their Rock-based music with strong folk and medieval finishing touches managed to built a strong fan base. Progressively the band moved towards the hard sounds and actually brought some Gothic feeling to their music. All these brought us in front of  Bastard which has been on the stores for less than a month. SUBWAY TO SALLY use their native language in the lyrics implementing the ala RAMMSTEIN industrial dynamic. The non-Metal instruments used in the thirteen tracks give the listener the impression that are not at all foreign since they are excellently embed into the Germans' music. As it happens in album like this the tracks seem to look alike each other but things become clearer and eventually more interesting after some additional CD spins where you get to discover the music behind the music. Indeed, the band has made a mosaic of sounds based on the strong Teutonic almost Metal aesthetics.
Meine Seele Brennt is a mid tempo album opener that bears an ultra heavy guitar rhythm section that points towards the RAMMSTEIN territory. Eric Fusah uses his vocals wisely perfectly blending melody and the industrial kind of monotonous approach. The band brings some distinct folk influences in Puppenspieler or in the slow tempo but definitely melodic Wehe Stunde. What I really enjoyed in Bastard was the epic atmosphere and feeling that was generated in the violin driven Fatum or in the medieval In Der Stille that closes the album.
The down tuned guitars play the supporting role in SUBWAY TO SALLY's music without leads and solos in the context of the trademark German pattern that can be found scattered in of every corner of the album. Subsequently, there is nothing new or groundbreaking here apart from the pretty good composition and the confident performance of this German act that has been in the music business for more than a decade.
The bottom line is that this album refers to everyone who is a fan of this Gothic meets Metal in an industrial environment upon German soil strange but overall beautiful outcome. The rest of you, go ahead and check the next and more interesting METAL TEMPLE review...