My apologies for being 'vacant' the past two days, but I'd taken some time off and checked into the TOKIO HOTEL. Except that I didn't have to fly overseas to Japan; I stayed right here in my humble old town of St. Louis, Missouri. Among the collection of CDs in the latest gift package sent by my friend Oleg all the way from Russia was "Humanoid", the newest studio album by the German rock outfit called TOKIO HOTEL. Ever since I started listening to it in my car four days ago, I haven't been able to stop! I have no idea where this addiction has come from, though I could attribute that to my recent thirst for music that's on the hard and heavy side. I wonder if this would've been the case had I started listening to TOKIO HOTEL some years ago when a former co-worker, who was one of those cool California skateboard types, recommended them to me? I never took that recommendation—possibly because I wasn't getting into much post-80's rock music back then—but I suppose my receipt of this CD signifies that I was destined to hear them eventually. The cyborg pictured above on the cover artwork may not be screaming like the head pictured on the cover to THE VACANCIES' "Tantrum" was, but the music contained on "Humanoid" is just as loud and intense and features those boyish vocals that most punk rockers tend to have. That cyborg has a cool design, by the way; reminds me of something I once saw in a video game or some science fiction movie....or possibly a TV series like "Earth's Final Conflict" or "Andromeda". I just love the whole space theme for this album—from that cover artwork down to the song titles and the lyrics themselves. The big difference between TOKIO HOTEL and THE VACANCIES is that TOKIO HOTEL's music sounds, as the album title says itself, more 'humanoid' and less 'outer worldly'; I can really jam to their songs whereas listening to the progressive punk rock sound of THE VACANCIES was, at times, like a steady stream of white noise. "Noise"—that so happens to be the title to the opening track, and I was hooked on it right away. Yes, the guys make a whole lot of noise on this song—and just about every other one thereafter—but it's the kind of 'power pop' noise I like when it comes to rock music. Got hooked on the chorus of "Darkside Of The Sun", which quickly became my next favorite. But neither that one nor the album's opener had anything on Track #3's "Automatic", which is my favorite one of all. It's one of those wake-you-up-out-of-bed type of songs with a head-ringing melody that's sure to stay with you all day long. Of course, an album with aliens and other strange oddities as its theme had to have a couple of songs on it called "Alien" and "Phantomrider"; something about the melodies to both of these songs made me like them as much as I liked the first three. Brilliant sound these guys have, but it's time I made other reservations and checked of the TOKIO HOTEL, even if I haven't overstayed my welcome:
1. Noise
2. Darkside Of The Sun
3. Automatic
4. World Behind My Wall
5. Humanoid
6. Forever Now
7. Pain Of Love
8. Dogs Unleashed
9. Human Connect To Human
10. Alien
11. Phantomrider
12. Zoom Into Me
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