OUSFLUG

Sixth studio album from this Hamburg group and remaining truthful to their original goal, Ousflug ("escape", I think) continues a bit the trends towards some rockier songs , while remaining as authentic and traditional on other tracks. Still with an unchanged line-up from the second album onwards, With a fun Viking flying Drakkar drawn artwork, the group indeed seems to escape towards greener lands, and

Like its predecessor Frÿheit, Ousflug starts very strongly and progressively as Tobacco-Lob is a modern piano-lead piece that looks towards folk rock, but for the next three tracks, the album takes an instrumental turn with two older "dance" tunes, before taking an extended tour on a Celtic jig (Maiden Head).Schöne Hexe is taking an unexpected turn with a sitar and both Olaj and Minne taking turns in vocals, and is an album highlight, but the next two (nearly) instrumentals are fantastic; first the title track with its scats over a gentle but ever-changing chamber rock, while Orschel Halfmacher is hesitating between drone-prone medieval and chamber prog with one or two small choirs, but Gentle Giant is not far away. The last three tracks are still quite interesting although they pale in comparison, but the wordy Atze, the lament Malenzit, etc.. But the closing Lügenlied returns to a rockier format (after a few meanders) with an electric guitar and the lengthy instrumental turning into a jig around the end.

For the pure proghead, Ousflug might just Ougenweide's rockiest album so far with a whopping five instrumental tracks, but by all means don't go hope for a Tull album, even if you will find a few Tull hints.