The boys are back in town and are still following the same routine of plugging in, getting the recording completed as quickly as possible (three days) and getting back out on the road. It is the same trio of Jeff Aug (guitar), Florian Walters (bass) and Kurty Münch (drums) and they just don’t want to slow down at all. This is hard rock, proper songs, but just without any vocals so Florian and Kurty have to do their level best to keep some sense of order on proceedings while Jeff continues to go nuts time after time. I keep finding it hard to realise this over the top manic madman is the same person who used to send me acoustic guitar albums, and one can’t imagine him doing anything apart from what he is doing right here. It is obvious that each song is a single take, with all three in the studio at the same time bouncing off each other and off the walls. Recording must have been easy for the engineer, just let them do their thing and if they’re not happy with a take them just do it again.

There is an honesty in this music which is palpable – there is nothing artificial, created or false about this. They have even progressed this time to having their name on the album cover (last time it was just a photo of a gorilla), so perhaps next time it will even have the title as well, you never know. When they’re not at full bore they have an easy groove, and this is when they remind me of Trapeze, yet at others they some across more as Jeff Healey (although with a lot less blues influence), or Taste. As the band themselves say, “rockin’ 70’s riffs played with punk rock ferocity to creeping metal grooves and all out bashers. Ape Shifter give new meaning to intense Simian Instrumental Rock from the nasty pits of the Hellabrunn Zoo.” Proper music played by proper musicians, just make sure you have a nice beer to hand when you play this and your evening will be complete.

Rating: 8/10

Links:
https://www.ape-shifter.com/