A German Steampunk Don Quixote
Jeremias Meinhard is a German musician, that mix different styles, both in music and in visuals.
A couple of years ago, I discovered Blutengel (a gothic German band) and then I saw a video of them and Meinhard. The song was “Kinder der Sterne”. I loved the video and the song itself, but what caught my eye was this other singer. A soft-like mad scientist, all dressed in black, with weird hair and clothes, that looked like he just came up of a Tim Burton movie. So I started to investigate more about him. I listened to his previous albums and watched some videos. Really liked his art, in general.
In June 2022, he released a new album, “Wasteland Wonderland”. I listened to it, and it seemed to me like a more mature work, a very eclectic, but conceptual album, at the same time.
The music on the disc is a mix of heavy metal, with some touches of keyboards and clavichords that give a medieval atmosphere. The lyrics, some of them in English and some of them in German, (and sometimes a song has both of them on different parts), tell us about a futuristic, hopeless world. Very suitable with these crazy times we are currently living in. This mood shows up, especially in the first song, the one that gives the name to the album, Wasteland Wonderland, apocalyptic, but grandiose at the same time.
The second track is Spiegelblick, with German lyrics and full of nostalgic feelings, and keyboards. Beautiful song and video, show that we are living in these final times, very catastrophic, with images of climate change disasters, artificial intelligence, robots, and just the world falling down.
On the bright side, then comes, Jabberwock and Reiselied, happier songs, and the second one invites to the adventure, positive, rocker, heavy guitars.
Where the Things Have No Names, grants us an existential note, about being alone, but not lonely, not with sadness, but on the contrary, like it is something desired, searched for.
Wool and Water, ballad, grandiose, reminiscence a bit of the sad-struggling part of a Disney movie, that emerges in the middle of the story just before things start to get better.
I Will Never Ever, has a circus feeling, very positive, and jolly, and that invites us to keep going forward.
Lion & Unicorn as well as Worrity (Wasp in a Wig), are on the heavier side, with a lot of guitars, and rock (just what I love). In between these two songs, is White Knight, with also has a circus mood, and speaks about what the name says, a fantasy man, a knight in white shining armor that lives only in our dreams.
Red Queen, a ballad in German, tragic love. But then The King’s Game, improves the mood again with rock, a very heavy song, lots of distorted guitars, and lyrics like a chess game.
All end up with Looking Glass Revelation, my favorite of the album, heavier, and offers us back a certain feeling of hope and that in the end the only constant that we have is change (nothing stays the same). Of course, you can take that phrase negatively also, but if you choose the positive path it gives you the chance to start over again, a fresh new start.
In conclusion, it’s a great album, with multiple music styles, and a mix of German and English tales-like lyrics. You can listen to the album on the Spotify player below, and you can see some of these songs in videos on Meinhard’s channel on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/user/meinhardmusic).