Electric Callboy – Tanzneid
Release Date: 7th August 2026
Label: Century Media Records
Electric Callboy are a band that defy categorisation. Merging techno, pop, metalcore and everything in between into a bombastic smorgasbord of contrasting styles is what they do best, and they wear it like a badge of honour. Now, four years after their last album Tekkno, the German rave rockers are back with possibly their most eclectic release to date, Tanzneid.
Where does one even start with an album like this? Well one thing to be sure about is that Tanzneid doesn’t mess around. From the word go it moves at a relentless pace and energy that forces you to dance, mosh or both at the same time. The opening title track sets the playing field perfectly with a thumping bassline and euphoric chorus that, miraculously, fits hand in hand with the heavy riffs that sit alongside it.
In many ways, this album takes every element that worked so well on Tekkno and cranks them all the way to eleven and beyond. Tracks such as ‘Elevator Operator’ and ‘RATATA’, the latter of which features equally quirky metalheads Babymetal, carry the album’s sentiment of adrenaline fuelled momentum that pulls you onto the dancefloor on their shoulders. Though the band have stated that this album took everything out of them creatively, especially having made it right after a lengthy tour, that passion and drive pays off in the final product as every track sounds like they were just as fun to make as they are to listen to.
On the other end of the spectrum you have the likes of ‘The Way You Are’ which continues that same energy but dives head first into their self-aware sense of humour. It starts off embracing a Backstreet Boys-esque sound only to abruptly meld it with dense breakdowns, guttural screams and even the odd sexual moan for good measure. Though it is a ridiculously enjoyable and humorous track, there is no denying that Kevin and Nico’s vocal ranges, both here and throughout the whole album, are put through their paces but in return that vocal variety complements the continuous genre clashes in so many ways. Their voices very much act like the glue between all the wacky ideas that can only be taken so far instrumentally.
One minor nitpick that could be made towards the album, and this really is grasping at straws at this stage, is the fact that eight of the ten tracks presented here are already released singles meaning fans are only really getting two brand new songs they’ve not heard before alongside four remixes. This doesn’t hurt the actual quality of the songs as they are all still fantastic in their own right and flow seamlessly within the tracklist, but maybe holding back the likes ‘Revery’ or ‘Hypercharged’ for instance, could have given those tracks an added punch hearing them for the first time in the context of the album.
A lot of the genres on display here really shouldn’t work together, but by this point Electric Callboy will smash styles that don’t belong just because they can. Tanzneid shows the band at their most experimental and unfiltered, resulting in arguably the most fun you’ll have with a metal album all year.