Originally published in Verbicide issue #4

The ninth track of this 23-song promo CD is the punk version of the “Duck Tales” theme song, followed by a strange cover of Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On.” I enjoyed these tracks when I first heard them, but beyond gimmicky covers, this band doesn’t do a whole lot for me. The gruff, German vocals are hard to listen to, and the music is poorly recorded and unoriginal — and when the vox suck, you damn well better have decent songwriting to pick up the slack. Still, if German punk is your thing, you can visit their web site at www.optimale-haerte.de.

(Markus Paffhausen, Mittelpfad 31, 56626 Andernach)