A Testament To His Versatility

For most of his musical career, German musician Conny Ochs has made his mark as the frontman of heavy German bands such as Zombie Joe and Baby Universal, or for his collaborations with doom metal pioneer, Scott Weinrich. Ochs is now striking out on his own again, and will be releasing his third solo album, Future Fables, on February 26th through Exile on Mainstream Records. Although you can still hear some of the heavier sound on this record the music bears a much more folksy rock styled sound influenced by artists from Woodie Guthrie to Nick Drake.

 Future Fables kicks off with “Hole,” a melancholy dirge-like song about the missing parts of life. “There’s a hole in the heart / put it all through,” Ochs sings in his somewhat understated, but still meaningfully powerful, voice. The instrumentation here is an interesting mix of acoustic guitar layered with tasteful accents of electric guitar. This guitar dichotomy serves to give the track somewhat of a dissonant feel. This lends itself incredibly well to Ochs voice which believably sings his sad loss lyrics in a heartfelt way. Then on “Killer,” the third track, the beat picks up a little bit with a finger snapped beat and more in your face vocal stylings. This song is built on a sweet but salty blues rock riff that is guaranteed to get the listener foot tapping through the track. The lyrics here stay about as hopeful as with “Hole,” but because of the more upbeat guitar this is an incredibly fun track that would be perfect to drive to. Later on the dissonant folk track “Slide,” the listener is treated to darkly twanged guitar riffs that are held in juxtaposition to Ochs’ higher singing on this track.

This record stands as a testament to the versatility of musicians with Ochs showing that he can make good and interesting music over multiple genres and stylings. Future Fables is powered by many different but equally cool guitar riffs that hold up not only as individual songs, but also as a cohesive whole record. Ochs is also a quality singer and lyricist. This album is another worthwhile notch in Ochs’ musical belt that favors simple, meaningful arrangements that showcase his guitar skills.