VNA's review of:

LETZTE INSTANZ

Letzte Instanz blew me away in seconds visually and aurally. The music was spectacular and the lead vocalist, Robin had one of the most beautiful voices. Letzte Instanz is a highly sophisticated act, with very fun, young, energetic artists.

Their matching outfits were made of a silky, fuscha-pink fabric. Every aspect they used in their music, worked together.

Their "Intro" has such a beautiful beginning a ballerina could dance to it, until suddenly a big bang in the song changes the mood into great festival music. The seven members bring an assortment of contributions and instruments to the band. Letzte Instanz are Robin Sohn lead vocals, Muttis Stolz violinist, Benni Cellini cello player, Tin Whistle guitarist and vocalist, Markus G-Punk drums, Holly D. vocals, acoustic guitar, schalmei, and sampler. The Letzte Instanz bassist is Rasta F., and on the CD, "Das Spiel...sich im Kreise Dreht" it is Kaspar.

Letzte Instanz played more varied instruments than most bands. With Letzte Instanz everything was refined. This music was not at all experimental. This music was very exceptional and carefully planned out and hard to beat. All of the Letzte Instanz members were very cool to look at. The cello player, Benni had awesome fuscha colored hair. Muttis Stolz on violin was very entertaining, it was hard to take my eyes off of him. Some of the songs were really danceable.

The song, "Das ist Tag" has more of a rap beginning, it is very beat oriented, almost having a heavy metal feel. There is a very chaotic mix of new sounding instruments with modern and folk influenced German vocals. I fell in love with the band. Robin was made up to look like an evil clown, but to me looked like a cute bunny. Robin sang so strong. The whole band was so talented. These were seven impressive, professional musicians working together. Robin's make-up and hair were a little different than the picture we saw of the band on the "Das Speil" CD cover. "Opus #1" has a sweet introduction. It has a swaying slow start that leads into a very fast building violin accompanying beats that make me feel like spinning around. What a dedicated, addicting, highly respected band. I want to listen to them all the time and learn more about them. I am interested in hearing their, "Brachialromantik" CD. The song "Satyr" is like an anthem with a unique chanting chorus.

We watched attentively and everything we saw and heard was so impressive. The band was romantic, metal influenced, always professional and played with extreme accuracy. We searched for the CD and were relieved when we finally held it in our possession.

The CD is so incredibly great. The songs are all so beautiful. The woman who sings guest vocals on the CD is Anne Rosinski.

I would like to translate the German lyrics to English and try to understand the true meaning of Letzte Instanz's songs.

http://www.letzte-instanz.de/

Travis' comments:

Letzte Instanz were up next. Another band I had zero previous aural contact with and the only impression I had was from a quick glimpse of their album cover in a CD store in Berlin the day before. From that cover photo (a bunch of dudes with crazy face paint and dyed hair in front of a cool chaos-type symbol structure but with seven points instead of eight) I was expecting anything from Death Metal to Folk Music….

In actuality, they were a small bit of both and a lot more. The band consisted of seven guys, the usual band bits of a couple of guitars and drums but then they also had an electric fiddle player and cellist. It was these two dynamic elements plus the lead singer’s presence and personality (coupled with talented use of the aforementioned conventional instruments) that won me over within half a song. The fiddle player was a mad-man, leaping and jigging all over the stage while plucking and drawing some fantastic parts. The other string player would have been just as mobile if not needing to sit down while playing his cyber-cello (he made up for his inability to move his body with his head alone).

The lead singer, despite resembling an alien in war-paint at times, had an immediate charisma and an excellent voice. The crowd responded emphatically to every song and the set was done all too soon. I left the pit area very upbeat and immediately wanted to purchase their CD. This band is a true festival band with it’s ensemble of instruments and fast-paced energetic songs.

The entire set you fight the urge to do a jig, not just an industrial stomp or metal-style head or arm “bang”, but a full on jig, kicking up your heels and flailing your arms about.