“Finte” is a German word for an action used as a cover-up for your real intentions and actions. A trick so to speak. It’s also the name of a new German Post-Hardcore band which surely has a few tricks up their sleeves in order to combine many of the different aspects of their preferred genre with all its different meaning connected to different periods in time. Was this intro just a cover-up for other intentions?

Post-Hardcore is a delicate thing because a lot of people mean different things by it. Most of the people grown through their adolescence in the 80s rather associate it with bands like Snapcase or Unsane (which are already like apples and pears, right?). People like me, who went through puberty more or less in the 90s mostly associate it with bands like Thursday or Thrice (or Boysetsfire or At the Drive-In, whichever couple you prefer). Folks who endured the time of emotional immaturity and mood-swings in the 00s or 10s might rather think of even other bands maybe stuff like La Dispute or Pianos Become The Teeth.

Finte from Germany are surely folks who belong into the latter category age-wise but who surely define their version of Post-Hardcore more along the lines of the middle category even though there are some elements which they have taken from “The Wave”-Hardcore bands, especially PBTT; nevertheless the basis for their music are bands like Thrice or Thursday and there is something in it, which reminds the old folks like me of another highly underrated band called Pendikel – who were one of the most interesting Noise-Pop bands Germany has ever brought along. The reason for this later comparison are the clean vocals on Finte’s full-length Wie Das Endliche Treibt (Engl: “How the Endlessness is Pushing”), while some of the screamed lines sound a bit like Poison The Well or early Thrice. The Orange County-heroes also seem to have had a hand in influencing tracks like ”Fährten” (“The Tracks”) or ”Bastion”, the second one showing the Vheissu and Major / Minor influences pretty openly on its sleeve. However, a hectic bulldozer like ”Zersetzung” (“Decay”) can clearly be connected to some of the earlier things At The Drive-In shared with The Mars Volta, which stems from the brilliant work of the rhythm section on this track. Some of these influences (or also a hint at The Fall of Troy?) are also audible on ”Zahlen” (“Numbers”)

However and nevertheless and ultimately we cannot talk about this record without talking about its final two tracks, “Herbst” (“Autumn”) and “Im Licht” (“In the Light”). I would bluntly guess these two tracks were written and recorded last as they close the record and show a pretty different nature: The whole record spans 48 minutes and the last two tracks take of 17 of them – different songwriting and style? Yes, definitely! Here I would say, the tracks were inspired by some Pianos Become the Teeth style new wave of indie-core style music. There are these wonderful wavey elements and they take their time to slowly pull you in, whereas the other tracks rather grabbed you by the hair and showed no mercy. These tracks take their time to erupt and to re-form, re-built and also re-navigate its course set for your heart. If this is the road, Finte are taking, then we can expect really amazing things from them, because here they move closer to Hardcore-ish terrain explored by some of the Post-Metal-adjacent giants like Breach.

I do not want to go as far as to say that the first eight tracks on this miraculous brew are a feint in order to confuse the audience before the final two tracks reveal the band’s real nature, but this is a really good introduction to another good band from Northern Germany that would be a highlight at your local youth club – just ask the band and they probably make it happen. Just like they made a decade-spanning approach to Post-Hardcore possible on Wie Das Endliche Treibt! This band is no cover-up, they are for real!