DisAgreement Online

I have never been a fan of hip hop and rap music. I allowed exceptions for bands like Why? and 13 And God, but they were always rooted in indie rock, which made them more accessible to me. Somehow I also rather like Luxembourgish band De Läb, whose rapper Corbi showed on Everwaiting Serenade’s EP Lung Work that hip hop and metalcore can coexist without any problem. And it is now EWS’s vocalist Julien, well known for his aggressive performances, who recently founded the duo Freshdax which can be labelled a hip hop project.

The band name is original, I give you that, and made me instantly curious about the music. Julien definitely puts a lot of effort into the rap component, and therefore the voice and lyrics take a front seat. The music however is traditional hip hop with occasional soul injections. The lyrics deal with everyday topics, and occasionally try to reference street life. At times they are really well done (D’Spillplaz, Der Mamm hire Beschten, D’Krawatt ), but all things considered they still lack the panache that makes De Läb so invigorating. The album is nearly an hour long, which seems a little too much to hold my undivided attention. There are also a couple of guest musicians present on Ziel mir net däi Liewen, among others Corbi on Wat, Wou, Vinyl? and Retrace My Fragements’ Claude who did a guitar solo for Meng zwou Schoulen.

I admit that I have a rock and metal background. The younger generation really digs hip hop nowadays, but try as hard as I might to open myself for new musical experiences, I still felt a little stranded with Freshdax and prefer something musically quite heavier.