Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Reptyle



Country: Germany
Formed in: 1999
Location: Bielefeld
Website: www.reptyle.de
Members: Zulu (vocals), Keule (guitars), Slash (guitars), Dead (bass), Kaiser (drums)
Contact: info(at)reptyle.de

Biography
 “They’ll try to scare us, honey, with weapons they can’t use/I’ll sing back from the archives a song I wrote for you” - the defiant lines from the new record's opening song, “Lost in '95”, char-acterise German goth rock stalwarts REPTYLE better than any state-ment of intent.

 Founded in 1999, at a time a which the genre was considered all but dead, the quintet has made a convincing point of the merits of being undead – without all mainstream in-dustry support, instead building on scores of gigs in Germany and abroad, the loyalty of a select, unswerving fan base, and the quality of their acclaimed full-length al-bums, “A High and Lonely Place” („Powerful guitars, sinister vocals, driving drums and bass lines, all swathed in atmospheric keyboards – total hit!“ - Zillo magazine, 2004) and “Consequence” (“Reptyle goth and rock for all they're worth“ - Orkus mag-azine, 2007). Indeed, attitude is important but not everything, as this overdue new offering proves.

 REPTYLE have honed their considerable songwriting skills, evident in more diverse, yet more focused tracks. Consider the strutting opener quoted above; the spacious and epic “Into Her Desert”; the breathy, yet gutsy groove of “Heroes of the Working Dead”; and so on. Speaking of focus: Zulu's vocals are grimmer, yet more intimate, both in terms of content and delivery; the guitars combine punkish outbursts with shoegaze atmospheres more effectively than ever; the production is more transpa-rent than on any earlier REPTYLE release; and no, the addition of a live drummer doesn't harm at all.

 If this, indeed, is “old school” goth rock, it will inadvertently provide the new century with a new example – and REPTYLE, hopefully, with success beyond defiance. Currently REPTYLE are in the studio working on the next album which is scheduled to release in the beginning of 2014

Discography
2000 Monochrome (MCD)
2001 …till life do us part (MCD)
2002  Descent to heaven (MCD)
2004 A high and lonely place (CD)
2007 Consequence (CD)
2011 Corruption e.p. (12” Vinyl)