Tankard – Mit dem Jürgen! Für den Jürgen

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TANKARD are regarded as one of the Big-Four Teutonic Thrash giants (alongside KREATOR, DESTRUCTION and SODOM) and were first formed in 1982, a staggering 40 years ago. This EP is billed as TANKARD & FRIENDS on the cover and I had to check to find out what “Mit dem Jürgen! Für den Jürgen” means in English.  Black-White Like Snow apparently. The EP is released by Nuclear Blast Records.

I have to add that I’ve never listened to TANKARD before (don’t shoot me) and I’m not a football fan (OK…I’m dead). This appears to be four versions of a football song (after managing to hunt down the lyrics as the promo pack was in German sadly). It’s a song that is apparently played at the beginning of every Frankfurt Eintracht (German football club) home game and was recorded because Frankfurt Eintracht won the Europa League final this year. TANKARD are massive fans and brought two additional bands to join in the fun and the EP was born.

I have to say that TANKARD have created a fantastic football anthem which starts with a SABBATHy riff with some nice muted riffage in the pre-chorus before the massive sing-a-long chorus. Lyrically it’s great too. REVOLTE TANZBEIN add some ska/reggae stylings to the song with trumpets and sax whereas ROY HAMMER adds electro-pop with some bagpipes. Both of these versions add a different vibe but still convey the atmosphere.

It is TANKARD’s version though which stands out and IF England ever win the UEFA cup or World Cup (Don’t laugh…if the women can do it…) then I do hope that a hard rock/metal band, say THE WILDHEARTS are asked to write the anthem. Even I’ll sing to that!

Songwriting: 8
Musicianship: 6
Memorability: 8
Production: 8