Music Reviews

Rebellion Review Special Part 2: Born a Rebel

By Michael Kühnemann Mar 8, 2013, 20:55 GMT

Hello Metalheads and welcome to part 2 of our "Rebellion Review" special. This time we will jump back into the year 2003, the year when Rebellion released their second album, "Born a Rebel. The two songwriters Göttlich and Lulis had to deal with diverse reactions. While critics denunciated the album because of bad arrangements and cheesy texts, the adherents of the album saw it as a typical Heavy Metal album, which it surely is. Ten years after its release (oh my god, how time is passing) it forms a good connection between their first album "Macbeth" and everything which should follow - at least to my mind.


"Born a Rebel" starts with its theme song and it punches you in the gut right away. It comes along very heavily and fans at the concerts will start to bang heads and shout. It is followed by "Adrenalin" , also on a very high level. The mid-speed song "One for All" has a very anthem -like refrain and is definitely one of the best songs of the album. The most characteristic feature in this song is Michael Seifert's voice, changing from high to low vocals. Michael does this throughout the entire album which let critics postulate that he was not able to sing properly. But who believes that?


"World is War" is the climax of the album. The guitars destroy everything in their way and leave it burned to ashes. Definitely one of the best works in the band's history. "Dragons Fly" and "Queen of Spades" follow. These two mid-speed songs could not excite me back then and will probably be the two only songs I will skip ten years later. That is not too bad as it is followed by the dark anthem "Iron Flames". This song is free of further connection to romantic prejudices and it provokes to think about the church. This topic is mixed with a stamping tune to make "Through the Fire" a real rocker. Together with "Devils Child", which deals with moralisers, the two previous songs form the antichristian triumvirate.
The neck-breaker "Meet your Demon" is another great song and hits the listener right between the eyes just before "Power of Evil" brings the album to its end.

All in all "Born a Rebel" is a very good LP, but in comparison to the other albums a rather weak one. This derives not from a lack of quality of the songs but is due to the extraordinary quality of "Macbeth" and the Viking trilogy. "Born a Rebel" is a typical Heavy Metal album with decent lyrics and a fitting cover. The lyrics might be a considered to be a bit cheesy; to my mind this is not correct. Sure, the texts deal with motorcycles, war, religion and life as a metalhead, but using them as a reproach against the band is way too farfetched.

If Judas Priest writes such lyrics, they become tradition but if Rebellion writes them, they are nothing special. But this is the burden they decided to take back when they were at Grave Digger.

Tomi Göttlich:

What is Kühnemann talking, bullshit obviously ,ha-ha, „Dragons Fly“ is a really dope song, a banger we still used to play live long after its release … sooo seriously, he now owes me a beer ,ha-ha.

The Story of „Born a Rebel” is quite funny actually. At this time, Uwe had just received his new set of drum mics and Randy mounted them on his drum set to try them. It was a mere coincidence that Randy was there and they started to record some tunes. Uwe called me the next day telling me he had already started the record of the new EP… he must have sensed a big question mark through the phone, so he invited me over for that evening.

I listened to what the two had been recording and it was really classy, raw and spontaneous. After the long-wined period of work on the „Macbeth“ EP, I liked the idea of an unpolished and raw new album. We recorded the rest of the songs in a hurry and even passed over some minor mistakes made while recording. Olli, now Rebellions guitar player, edited the songs, and if you compare the sound with „Arminius“, you will surely notice the presence of the bass which I, needless to say, appreciate. We charged a Belgian artist who wanted to work for us with the design of the cover. As the title song is about riding motorcycles, we were certain that the cover should feature a bike.

Back then, Uwe and I were riding bikes quite often, he had his “Kidney Donor” and I had my Harley. So we precisely told the cover dude what we wanted on the cover, the result should be familiar. The cover design was excoriated by the press. I mean; the last place in the Metal Hammer Soundcheck doesn’t really bother me, but not a single positive feedback on the cover? Since then I restricted myself considering the cover design, smile. Randy left Rebellion after the release and our label Drakkar disbanded while we were working Gerd into the band.

The Booker had gone into recess previously so we were almost without any support, superior conditions to promote and push a new EP. When we were offered the last-minute possibility to go on tour with U.D.O. and Majesty we didn’t hesitate a second. Unfortunately were the tour dates in disaccord with the school schedule and since I am a teacher I had to work. I consequently had to hire a campervan inclusively a driver and was driven to the concerts right after school. Preparations and corrections were done during the travel period. I headed back to Friedberg immediately after the concert was finished.

I used to shower in the school’s gym in these days … this one-of-a-kind experience lasted over two weeks and was surely special.