I’ve never had a desire to describe a band as a Dungeons and Dragons alignment before, but Hans Gruber and the Die Hards is the perfect embodiment of Chaotic Good. Their sound is unique and diverse. One of my favorite reviews of their last album (With a Vengeance) on Bandcamp describes them as ranging from ska punk like Choking Victim to Mr. Jungle to They Might Be Giants. This band is like a mix of Andy Kaufman and Lenny Bruce turned ska- there is a commitment to the bit, a love of the absurd, and a biting political undercurrent running through everything.
The album begins with “Everybody Wants to Be Oppressed,” and the chaos begins immediately. The song starts with a drum-and-horn melody that feels like it’s in the middle of the song. It has a jarring, almost disorienting effect, as if you just walked in midway through the album. The vocals in the verses sound almost hectic as the vocals are layered with both Kurt and Rosey singing, and a descending horn riff follows each line. The closest thing to a chorus is the paired line “woe is me, I thought America was free. Let’s jump ship from this privileged society”. The first time we hear this line, the music aligns with the rhythm and cadence of the vocals, making it very clean and clear before another chaotic instrumental section. The lyrics throughout the song are often biting and brutal, mocking wealthy elites who love to pretend to be oppressed in a society that caters to their every need. Halfway through the song, the two-line chorus returns, but the vocals are chaotic, and the drums are roughly a thousand beats per minute, and chaos is everywhere- until it isn’t. The tempo drops, and a clean, slow marching rhythm comes in on the horns, drums, and bass. The lyrics remain scathing; at first, it’s imperceptible, but the marching rhythm slowly accelerates. Over time, it gets faster and faster, and more chaos is added in. It becomes disorienting, which heightens the sharp wit and mocking tone of the lyrics, mocking the wealthy and entitled for playing the victim to a society that caters to their bank accounts and leaves them to live without ever facing repercussions for their actions.
The second track is “The Gospel according to Tabby”- a much more hardcore ska song featuring members of Bondbreaker. While the song is extremely aggressive, the lyrics are mostly symbolic and prophetic about the end times, culminating in a phenomenal breakdown. A simple, slow rhythm on the drums and a single saxophone rhythm, a little punchy and jazzy, calming the scene as the prophecies of tragedy are revealed not to be floods or cicadas, but the lies and wars and greed of politicians spilling the blood of children.
“It Gets Worse” is very guitar and vocals-driven. The lyrics are collected in simple three-line stanzas with chants of “Worse” after each line, followed by “It Gets Worse”, as it tells the story of a city flooded by infrastructure failures reminiscent of New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina (although that is hardly the only city flooded as a partial result of failed architecture). Meanwhile, the song also features a huge guitar solo by Drew LeClair, some fun rising horn lines, and toggles between new wave (reminiscent of Devo) and an 80s rock-and-roll anthem (perhaps a little Bill and Ted-era). This song definitely has the potential to be an earworm and is one of the best on the album in the first few listens, but I can say that about five or six songs I immediately fell in love with.
This song follows up immediately with “One Day” which starts of like a speed punk song with a Spanish language verse before dropping into a funky groove about a future where we build houses for ourselves and our community and not for the wealthy and landlords- a world where housing is the end, so people have a place to live, not an investment for capitalist profits. Eventually, the drums build back up (holy shit, they’re good), another outstanding guitar solo leads us back into the speed punk from the intro, and we get another Spanish language verse to close out the song.
Without going into every song, there is a terrific cover of Chambacù- originally a cumbia song by Pedro Nel Isaza about a neighborhood in Colombia. While the structure has changed and isn’t a traditional cumbia song in style, it keeps many of the original elements (with the addition of some hardcore elements) and is still sung in Spanish. The song about community, loving and missing your home, and the cumbia rhythms and even the Spanish language in the middle of the album feel perfectly natural and at home with the rest of the album.
The final song I want to discuss is the only pre-release single from last year, in “Trepanation”. Trepanation is a surgical procedure where a hole is drilled in the skull to relieve pressure. It is a precursor to lobotomies and dates back over 7000 years. While the original reasons for the procedure are unknown in some cultures, it was done to “let out evil spirits”. It’s in this vein that the song is written, as the song facetiously calls for trepanation to relieve evil spirits. Towards the end of the song, there is a biting line about traditional medicine over modern treatment that feels like it is mocking people who believe in historical treatment and oppose vaccines and other modern medicines- “since old-fashioned is better, let’s all try this first”. “Hey, hey. Ho-ho. These spirits have got to go!” This is one of my all-time favorite songs by Hans Gruber and the Die Hards. It perfectly captures everything I love. Great vocals, interesting horn lines, and a history lesson. A biting social commentary. Obscure facts. And a rhythm that makes me want to sing and dance.
The album has 12 incredible songs, and it’s crazy to me how well they flow together. Almost every song mixes multiple genres, and ska is often in the background behind hardcore, punk, or even cumbia. Multiple lead singers and a few guest appearances, yet the entire album feels interconnected and well-constructed, as if it were written as a single piece rather than 12 songs put together. In my opinion, this is the best that Hans Gruber and the Die Hards have put out so far, which is a pretty impressive feat.
However, I must admit that, as good as this album is, it still doesn’t compare to seeing them live. This band puts on one of the most memorable live shows I’ve seen. Their crowd work and interaction are amazing. They bring props and get down and dirty (or extremely clean) on the floor. You will rarely hear a mention of Hans Gruber and the Die Hards without hearing talk of their live performance. I was lucky to see them last year, and I’ll be driving 3 hours to see them again this year. They will be touring the US throughout February and March, so please see them if you can, and you won’t regret it.
Written by Gimp Leg
