FRUMPY 2

Just try and imagine a meeting point between symphonic prog, krautrock and hard rock and there you'll find "Frumpy 2". This album is amazing and weren't it for some discussable instrumental passage, it would deserve five stars (so consider this as a 4 and a half star review). In this second album, Frumpy manage to match brilliantly the two dominating personalities in the band: Inga Rumpf provides good lyrics and passionate songs, while Kravetz stretches them in quite enjoyable instrumental variations. The real shift from the first album by the band is the new epic feeling. "Good Winds" is a very good example: Rumpf conveys a very intense performance, with a meditative verse and a strong, almost desperate refrain; then Kravitz and the new came Baumann perform some whirly instrumental variations on the main theme which lead directly again to Rumpf's last verse and the end of the song. This structure can be found also in other two of the three remaining tracks. "How the Gypsy was born" is an excellent hard rocker, while the last track of the album, "Duty", features one of the best vocals ever in German rock, epic and passionate, with Rumpf's androgine tone in the forefront; by the way, Kravetz risks to spoil it all with a trashy rendering of Bach's famous fugue which is totally out of place. The best track of the bunch, IMO, is however "Take care of Illusion", dynamic, heavy, "krautish" and yet very well balanced, with an impressive interplay between the members of the band (if I can remember properly, you can find an astounding live performance of this number on YouTube: go and look for it immediately!!!!). Finally, remember: you cannot say you like German rock without devouring this album!