16. April 2025
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Donots – Heut ist ein guter Tag

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

Donots - Heut ist ein guter Tag

Donots - Heut ist ein guter Tag
4.1

Rating

 4.1/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Very catching signature style
  • Good vocal and instrumental work

The Donots have steadily grown and became an established part of the German rock music scene. They also had quite a couple of appearances in major festivals like Rock am Ring. On 3rd February 2023, they release their twelfth studio album, Heut ist ein guter Tag. Here is my review.

 

 

Donots – About The Artists

The Donots are an alternative rock band from Germany. They have been founded in 1994 in Ibbenbüren in the Northwest part of the country. They are consisting of five members, singer and keyboard player Ingo Knollmann, Jan-Dirk Purgen Poggemann (bass), Eike Herwig (drums) and the guitarists Guido Knollmann and Alex Seidenbiedel. The band has the same lineup since 1995. One year later, they released the album Pedigree Punk, which has been limited to 500 units. Since 2000, the band also has a couple of chart placements in the single charts, but majorly stayed successful on the album side. The last four releases of the Donots, which includes the 2020 live album Birthday Slams Live, made it to the Top 10 of the German Album Charts.

 

Donots – Heut ist ein guter Tag – Track by Track

The fifteen song album lasts 42 minutes.

1. Heut ist ein guter Tag (Intro)

The first eleven seconds are dedicated to the intro track. A kid is stating Das ist der Weltuntergang – “This is Armageddon”. Sounds promising, doesn’t it?

2. Auf sie mit Gebrüll

The first full song (almost three minutes long) is named Auf sie mit Gebrüll (which is a saying you can translate only very vaguely). The Donuts don’t wait too long to have first rock music firework – the song has a lot of power and thus also feels like a mixture of hard rock and punk. Cool one.

3. Augen sehen

This 1:54 minute song had a very special release strategy. The Donots published the song together with Hey Ralph in one music video – you will listen to the other track later. Augen sehen comes with angry, stomping rhythm and a nice vocal performance.

4. 9 Leben

Compared to the energetic first listens, the very groovy 9 Leben (“Nine Lives”). partially feels like a blues rock song. The backing vocals turn the song into a catching listen, which has a lot of potential to make the fans smile on the next tour. I love to see how well the music of the Donuts also works in the rather quiet moments.

5. Längst noch nicht vorbei

The fifth song is also a very melodic song, even though the chorus has a lot potential for a good, old shout-a-long with the Ibbenbüren guys. Good work on the guitar side.

6. 1.21 Gigawatt

Ich will Küsse, ich will Koffein, weil mein Leben viel zu langsam ist (“I want kisses, I want caffeine, as my life is by far too slow”) – I guess you should not listen to this one while driven a within city limits. The song is pushing so much and catches you, so just might see the speedometer needle going up and up. At least, you won’t go for full speed – the sixth track is one of the shorter listens, having a total duration of 1:47 minutes.

7. Hunde los

Purgen is opening the song with the bass theme – and Hunde los (“Freeing the dogs”) stays a very groovy and blues-ish song. Great work on the instrumental section, so that this song finally has to become one of the best ones of the whole album.

8. Kometen

With Kometen (“Comets”), the album becomes a bit more dirty, more ranchy again – even though also this track has some quiet, atmospheric moments, especially in the long fade-out. Good-mood rock Made in Germany.

9. Traurige Roboter

The Traurige Roboter (“Sad roboters”) already state in the song that is might not be an all-happy listen. The song is nicely lead by the guitars, which are rhythmically strumming and lead a good melody.

10. Apokalypse Stehplatz Innenraum

The title of this song could be translated as something like “Apocalypse, interior of the venue, general admission”. Heut’ ist ein guter Tag – “Today is a good day” – suggests already that the motivation to move to the rhythm of the song is raising again.

11. Es tut nur weh, wenn ich lache

With durations between two and 2:33 minutes, the next three songs are rather short. This leads to a very versatile and entertaining listen. The shortest song of this trip is this one. Es tut nur weh, wenn ich lache is feeling to go back to the sound of the very first songs of the album. Cheeky, beautifully immature rocking.

12. Radikale Passivisten

Wir sind radikale Passivisten
Beim Nichtun sind wir echte Extremisten
Radikale Passivisten
Wir bleiben aktiv auf dem Sofa sitzen

(“We are radical passivists
We are real extremists in doing nothing
Radical passivists
We actively keep on sitting on the sofa”)

Songs like Radikale Passivisten beautifully illustrate how this band is writing their song. Very cool listen with this nice touch of irony.

13. Solange wir uns haben

Melodically, there is not that much of a difference to the song before. The song, however, has a nice sound with two levels of vocals in quite some parts of the listen. Nice one.

14. Hey Ralph

Finally Hey Ralph – didn’t we wait for this one for eleven tracks now. The track is rather mid-tempo and has a lot of groove. Good showcase of the band’s intstrumental talent.

15. Endlich irgendwo

The sound of the sea opens the final song of the album – which is also its (by far) longest listen. Even though the song starts rather cozy and slow, the Germans quite soon go back to their typical sound. Good final rocker with a great arrangement.

 

Donots – Heut ist ein guter Tag – Spotify

Here is the album on Spotify:

 

Donots – Heut ist ein guter Tag – My View

I wouldn’t be able to name that many outstanding elements of Heut ist ein guter Tag – but that’s somehow also the strength of the album: there are also not too many negative experiences. The Donots just do what they can do best. Donut music. And that’s good enough for a good rating.

 

Music – German Artists 2023

Here are all my Music & Media postings published in 2023 related to German artists:

 

Rotterdam & The Hague

Here are all my postings about the Rotterdam & The Hague region:

 

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