Review by Luka on May 20, 2001.

"Accident of Birth" was the album that officially marked Bruce’s solo band a significant force in the metal 90’s (even though "Skunkworks" is my personal favorite), and took the burning torch from the disgraced Iron Maiden. Along with Adrian Smith, probably the best guitarist to ever play for Steve Harris, the former Maiden screamer proves with "Chemical Wedding" that the last album was clearly not a fluke.

Taking a strong religious theme, Bruce sings about bible stories with a sinister, contentious view that is sometimes sorrowful and ironic. Tons of variety here: traditional heavy metal songs like "King in Crimson", melodic ballads - "Gates Of Urizen", old English-type folk songs - "Jerusalem" to long, epic tracks like "Book of Thel", reminiscent in structure to old Maiden classics like "Where Eagles Dare" or "Infinite Dreams", A lot more diversity in the songs than on the last one, although they’re all very similar with the constant religious theme and that they all kick major ass.

It’s strange how the guy who’s become a metal legend and been in the biz for some 20 years is still more original and creative with the genre than some of the new bands like Iced Earth, and even some other legends that are now growing ever more stale and predictable; Judas Priest; Iron Maiden; Queensryche.... "Iron bites the dust" is actually a line from "Machine Men" and I think we all know what Bruce is asserting, hehe. Iron Maiden’s perhaps saddest album, "Virtual X" - released the same year, leaves us doubtless about that!

The famous Maiden reunion of 2000 was like a physical hit to me. It’s all about money, "Brave New World" sucks more then anything either band has produced separately. Let’s hope that Bruce and Adrian still keep their own thing going, ‘cuz it’s the best I’ve heard from the British boys in a LONG time...

Bottom Line: Proudly stands and rivals "Accident of Birth": the previous Bruce Dickinson masterpiece. I pray to all that is true and pure in metal that his streak of perfection continues, and he forgets this nonsense with Iron Maiden.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Review by criscool623 on March 20, 2021.

Tankard is one of my favourite bands in general. I think that they have a great level as performers, composers, and in my humble opinion, they are way better than Sodom and Destruction; however, several factors impeded that they could reach the fame and appreciation that they deserved to have.

After their debut with Zombie Attack (an album that I did not want to review due to its more punk-oriented sound, as I am not a punk fan and it would have been unfair to judge it as a thrash metal release), the band started to work in a more aggressive sound, and the result was glorious; in fact, this was their first album with a genuine thrash metal sound.

First of all, I have to eulogize the composition of the songs; Tankard abandoned their tendency of writing simple songs with repetitive structures, riffs, and the same drum rhythm throughout the whole song. Here, the songs are more varied in this aspect, as they are more dynamic. We can find changing drums rhythms that make that the songs do not become something monotonous, bridges and interludes that make that every song have something different to offer and a vast variety of riffs, which has a remarkable influence of blues sound; thrash metal is that kind of gender that should overcome because of the originality of their riffs.

The music is savage, raw, it's pure anger, an ode to insanity; Gerre's voice is rougher than in its previous album, marking a clear evolution in his vocal style towards something more aggressive; Frank Thorwarth stands out improvising some bass lines in the album, giving more riches to the music; Oliver Werner is pretty standard playing the drums, but he's consistent and a good support for the band; Andy and Axel are good guitar players and they show off their (kind of limited) skills, offering short, but solid solos (although some licks are very memorable, like the first solos of 'For A Thousand Beers').

As I said before, every song has something different to offer, as the progressive parts of 'Don't Panic', the magic and epicity of 'For A Thousand Beers' (one of the best instrumental metal pieces of all), the aggressiveness of 'Total Addiction' or 'Traitor' and the funny and danceable introduction of the album's title track, you choose your favourite moment of the album.

I have not too much to say about the lyrics, as most of them are hilarious, obscene and beer-related, excepting 'Don't Panic', which is a little more serious, satirizing the war and other evils of the world.

Nonetheless, unfortunately, the album is not perfect, as it sins in something very important: the production. It is true that the music is powerful and full of adrenaline, but sometimes the sound is kind of dirty, and that makes that you don't know what notes the guitar players are playing, and thus, some riffs are unintelligible, as in 'Total Addiction' and 'For A Thousand Beers', but if you just want to listen to some raw music, this won't be a great problem for you.

This is the second strike of a band that is full of personality and style, and I totally recommend it if you want to listen to Tankard in some of the best moments of their career. It is a real shame that the band does not perform more songs from this album live apart from 'Chemical Invasion', but this album will stay in the history as one of the best (and most underrated) german thrash metal albums.

Rating: 9.7 out of 10

Review by Felix on March 20, 2021.

Twelve months after their minimally punk affected debut, Tankard returned with Chemical Invasion, a detonation of pure thrash metal. The compositions showed a higher degree of variety and complexity. In terms of musicianship, the dudes had reached the next tier. The fact that four of the musicians contributed at least one own composition underlined this development.

The excellent artwork presented a vile chemist who manipulated his beer in order to create a strange brew unscrupulously. This utterly unacceptable form of poisoning was too much for the defenders of the German purity law. Tankard raged against this kind of beer pollution and their title track was able to blow up the entire laboratory of the criminal scientist. The beginning of the song picked up the mood of "(Empty) Tankard", but this piece was evolving into a very intense and furious thrash metal grenade. Of course, a pinch of humour was not missing. Nevertheless, the song connected melody, density and speed in a very imposing way. Brutality and refinement were also expertly balanced. In my humble opinion, this ingenious number still belongs to their absolute classics.

Generally speaking, sheer fury characterized the majority of the songs. Straightforward outbursts like 'Farewell To A Slut' or 'Total Addiction' proved that Tankard had nothing lost of the juvenile spontaneity of their debut. Gerre's charismatic shouting as well as the powerful guitars and the thunderous rhythm section displayed an enormous joy of making music. As if that wasn't enough, Tankard also impressed with an almost progressive tendency. The monumental instrumental at the end of the A side surprised with a very unusual approach without appearing lightweight or inappropriate. 'Traitor', a further overlong song, proved their ability to write a thrilling piece of eight minutes length one more time. The song killed any kind of weariness in a matter of seconds because of its intensive and unstoppable riffing. Well accentuated background shouts increased the dynamism and the pressure of the song, while the high speed guitars performed rabid yet slightly technical solos one by one. The exact opposite of these bombastic songs was called 'Puke', an unswervingly hammering miniature track. As short as its title, it passed by in less than a minute while destroying everything that stood in its way. Fortunately, the mind-blowing mix of the album set all songs in the right light, irrespective of their individual configurations.

The lyrics expressed Tankard's weakness for beer and alcohol in general in several ways. But apart from that nonsensical poetry, the band also showed its political awareness ('Don't Panic'). Despite first appearances, this text did not come as a surprise, because 'Maniac Forces', already released on their debut, had also been slightly political. Well, we all know the omniscient eloquence of drunken people... Anyway, the lunatic chemist, probably a distant relative of Destruction's mad butcher, was grinning insidiously and I remember that I had pinned a poster with this artwork to the wall during the time of my military service. I cannot say that the motif pleased my first sergeant. But I guess my inoffensive action was better than starting another world war.

Rating: 9 out of 10