On their most versatile album to date, Unzucht are spicing up their anthemic Dark Rock with surprisingly brutal intermezzos. “Neunt?ter” unleashes a maelstrom of unbridled emotion, dark melodies and sudden aggression. The “Neunt?ter”-bird (Engl.=red-backed shrike) is a deceiver. By outward appearance a harmless-looking bird of extraordinary beauty, it reveals itself as a merciless killer which impales its victims on thorns before devouring them. Choosing this fascinating creature as the titular beast for Unzucht's new album clearly was a deliberate choice by the band and charismatic front man Daniel Schulz, as many of the songs also tend to similarly reveal hidden sides. At first, the group's Dark-Rock-anthems tend to ingrain themselves deeply in the listener's ear, only to unexpectedly reveal a spiky thorn that is rammed straight into the heart. This can happen in form of sudden, outright Metal-outbursts that relentlessly smash the dark harmonies to pieces with blasting drum-beats and harsh shouts... or in form of the painfully honest German-language lyrics that do not shy away from going were it hurts to then delve yet a bit deeper in order to deliver the final sting. After each descent into inferno, Unzucht draw the listener back in with another addictive melody, only to start the lethal game of the red-backed-shrike again.
