EPITAPH

With their new album “Don't Let The Gray Hair Fool You”, EPITAPH present themselves as fresh, dynamic and powerful as ever in their anniversary year, alluding to the band's long existence with a wink in the title.

With Carsten Steinkämper significantly rejuvenated on drums, the veterans Cliff Jackson, Bernd Kolbe and Heinz Glass show that they have lost none of their class over the years and still deliver rousing rock music of the finest quality today.

“Don't Let The Gray Hair Fool You” can certainly be seen as the essence of their 55-year band history, but at the same time, with its many new elements, it feels like a glimpse into the future. Saxophone and flute can be heard, and a wide variety of keyboard sounds enrich the sound palette and allow the fine twin-guitar sound to merge into an impressive triad in some places. A good example of this is “The First Day”, in which saxophonist Richard Wester sets the tone. When keyboardist Roger Wahlmann joins the band, the rock legend transforms into a great AOR band. The brilliant opener “One Heart”, but also “Cold Light Of Day” or “We Can Find A Way” would have rocked any stadium in the 80s and will continue to inspire in 2024.

EPITAPH's trademark has always been the concise sound of the twin guitars, the perfect interplay between the two guitarists, their flair for catchy melodies and the catchy, powerful rock sound, which can occasionally be playful. These characteristics run through the band's long history, regardless of how their sound has changed over the decades and according to the spirit of the times. It's no different today than it was 55 years ago ...

Riding Round In Circles” is a successful homage to the early phase of EPITAPH, transported wonderfully hippiesque into the present day. A playful masterpiece, delicately enhanced by Richard Wester on the flute.

They effortlessly transfer the 70s into the here and now with “Black Cat Bones”. It's classic hard rock with a simple, catchy riff - driving and powerful and underpinned by boogie piano. Great cinema! And “Highway Of Fear” also makes the leap in time with ease.

Another highlight: “Look To The Future”. Undoubtedly one of the most powerful and energetic numbers on the new album. On “Don't Let The Gray Hair Fool You”, their new and now 12th studio album, EPITAPH embark on a fascinating journey through the many decades of their existence. Looking back, but not nostalgically, the band around Cliff Jackson manages to process all their memories in new songs and present them in a contemporary, fresh rock sound.