It is good fun, but I feel it will be for a limited audience only.

German novelty/comedy/parody band J.B.O. have a massive back catalogue, and unless I'm mistaken this latest album is their thirty-something full-length release – and they show absolutely no signs of slowing down. This latest fifteen-track album is chock-full of chunky Metal riffs, pounding rhythm work, weird German comedy "interludes" (occasionally within some songs) and comedy covers – 'Wer Lässt Die Sau Raus?!' ('Who Let The Dogs Out?') and 'Weil's Quatsch Ist' ('Because It's Boring' – a play on 'U Can't Touch This') being prime examples.

The group are still supported/sponsored by the Erlangen brewers Kitzmann (especially in their live "gimmick" products) so they often get a mention within the lyrics. J.B.O. are massive in places like Germany, Austria and Switzerland, but have never broken through to the UK territory; I think they are simply too eccentric for wider markets.

The band are monumentally tight, the music is very well played, the album is tastefully produced and the overall package is aurally very pleasing as a result. The big drawback is the group's insistence on singing solely in German. When acts such as Rammstein or Girls Under Glass do it, this approach sounds menacing and the lyrics are memorable – on this occasion, it is not so much the case with the "German humour" found throughout being confusing more than universally funny.

I know I've seen J.B.O. in the past at European festivals, certainly at Wacken and Summer Breeze, and in that context they were certainly diverting and entertaining – visually they are always fun, but something is lost in translation when you are only listening to them. Indubitably it is good fun, but I feel it will be for a limited audience only. File under "curious" – "it's Metal Jim, but not as we know it!"

Chris O'Connor