The Other Side

Well, I suppose that most of you clicked on this review after some heavy duty laughing at the name "Farmer Boys" or the ridiculous cover. No, this isn't an album made by a crew of guys riding around on John Deere tractors, or some guys that are busy milking cows at 5 AM. Farmer Boys are a German quintet playing modern, experimental hard rock. Admittedly, this album will only appeal to the more open minded readers of this site. Actually, I can't even begin to guess who the actual target audience for this album is. They are too modern or poppy for most metalheads and conventional melodic hard rock fans. On the other hand, they are probably way too guitar heavy for pop fans. Using downtuned guitars, Farmer Boys have a tone very reminiscent of today's modern rock bands that fill the air waves. However, unlike most of the boring drabble that is modern rock, Farmer Boys actually play some interesting riffs and even some solos during the course of this album. A melancholy, sad atmosphere dominates the album, with the songs generally sticking to a mid paced tempo. The band uses programmed keyboards, combined with the downtuned guitars to achieve the core of this atmosphere. Vocalist Matthias Sayer accentuates this quality with his melancholy, Depeche Mode like delivery. He sounds sad, yet passionate over the course of the album, with a few modern sounding distortions to his voice popping up from time to time. The extensive use of programmed keyboards gives the album a distinct 80's British Pop quality. The guys have a great sense of melody, and I have to admit that most of the songs on this album are very catchy. Harmony vocals are used in just the right balance to accentuate the melodies. The band has done a great job in creating the dark, melancholy atmosphere to fit the sad lyrics. If anything, I can't accuse Farmer Boys of not being original. It's very hard to categorize this music as the sound spreads itself over multiple genres. I admire the band's risk in doing this, but as I alluded to earlier, they will likely have a hard time finding an audience as a result. If I had to recommend this album to a particular group of fans, I would start with those who grew up listening to 80's British pop, and moved on to gothic rock and metal within the last decade or so.