Nailhead Magazine
- Nov 9, 2022

REVIEW | ONKEL GUSTA - OBSTACLE COURSE - ALBUM

Today I'm particularly happy to write a review about an extraordinary band, Onkel Gusta, and I've been waiting for their album for what feels like an eternity.

I've been a fan of this band from the very beginning and I've been waiting eagerly to hear if they can reproduce the raw and uncompromising sound that they bring to their live performances into their recordings and after listening to it I can say that yes, they did it, that's out of the question. That's probably also because the album is a one-take recording, apart from the vocals that alternate between drummer Paul and bassist Felix and a few guitar overdubs, so they captured that unique live energy and got it on the album. I can still remember very well when I was organizing events for NoBack Booking, putting together the debut concert sometime in summer 2021 and when they stood on stage and started playing I was speechless and open-mouthed because I just didn't expect the three guys to go so damn hard.

That was the day Onkel Gusta cast a spell over me and it hasn't let up a bit to this day. On the contrary, when I heard the debut album for the first time I was speechless again. The intro especially made me smile because here we hear the legendary drive-thru order of Big Smoke from the classic game GTA San Andreas. One of my absolute favorite games of all time. A bomb idea for an intro in my opinion, a brilliant and amusing start. But then the fun ends again, because then it gets really tough with “Family Time”, the first song, and that's exactly how the rest of the album goes, one banger after another. Eight songs with just over nineteen minutes of pure destructive power. I like the blatant breakdowns that keep pulling the corners of your mouth down and make you knit your eyebrows because you think, oh yeah, that's how it should be. Drums and bass form a perfect symbiosis and thus prepare this absolutely aggressive base on which the razor-sharp and ice-cold guitar can let off steam.

I think Onkel Gusta has found their sound and I hope they don't try to change anything because even though everyone in the band is relatively young, they just sound raw and old school hardcore like they've been playing together for ages. I don't even want to find out whether it's grindcore or hardcore garage-punk or how much black metal influence there is. The fact is that the sound that Onkel Gusta blasts around our ears on "Obstacle Course" is just awesome. In terms of content, the band is also not to be trifled with, because if you listen to "Hipsterpiss" more closely, we hear how they take on all the narrow-minded metal heads who think they've eaten their music knowledge with a spoon and want to tell you which bands are total rubbish and what they know about this and that and have to rub their oh so important opinion under everyone's nose without being asked. Probably my favorite song on Obstacle Course in terms of content.

In general, the guys scream a lot from their souls, about what gets on their nerves, and that's exactly how it has to be, because otherwise the whole thing wouldn't be so perfect. I was particularly taken with the track “Justice”, my overall favorite on the album. There's this breakdown in the middle of the song, which reminds me of Pantera's "Domination" and then the lyrics "Every one is my enemy" are screamed, it still gives me goosebumps every time. But that's how it goes through the whole album and it's best to download "Obstacle Course" to see the destructive power of the trio for yourself. Just order it directly from the "San Tropez Records" website, where the album was also released.

I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot more from Onkel Gusta in the future and if things continue like this, the boys will certainly achieve a lot, because so far things are going up steeply for them. I think you guessed it, of course five out of five nails.