Berlin Boom Orchestra is a nine-piece German reggae band around singer and MC Filou, lyrically mainly sticking to the language of Goethe. On 'Reggae Punks', the Berliners' fourth album, sixteen tracks in which Filou alternates between rub-a-dub, dancehall, punk rock and ska and tackles subjects like the unbearableness of existence, hatred and xenophobia in the past and the lessons we clearly still haven't learned from this ('Leviathan', 'Ping-Pong Mit Grenades', 'Wer Haut Dem Volk Aufs Maul', loosely translated: "Who manages to get the people back on the right track?"), but also expresses his appreciation for the beauty of the moment ('Original Silence'). Got our attention: opener 'Spul's Zurück', a nod to Eek-A-Mouse's 'Wa-Do-Dem', 'Musik Für Toten', in which Filou speaks out against the muzak radio stations blurt out on a daily basis, comparing this musical mush with music for the dead, 'Skank Down', for which the band switches to a solid ska rhythm, the solid dancehall-flavored 'Respect & Props', Berlin Boom Orchestra's tribute to the Jamaican roots of the reggae genre, or the rootsy 'Doppelkopf', showing the band's lighter side and with Filou playing all kinds of word games with the term "doppel" or double. A solid base knowledge of German is probably required, but with 'Reggae Punks' Berlin Boom Orchestra nonetheless delivers an excellent Teutonic reggae production!