ALBUM REVIEW: TANZNEID BY ELECTRIC CALLBOY
Reviewed by Cecilia Pattison-Levi
Release date 7 August 2026
I saw Electric Callboy live in 2022 at Good Things and they had just released ‘Tekkno’, and that really did say it all. Electric Callboy were a metalcore band and an electronic dance band (EDM) at the same time: the breakdowns are sweaty dance-pop treats. It was fun and the crowd was bouncy. The band toured again in 2025, collaborating with BABYMETAL and playing to huge crowds. I was “okay...they’re a lot of fun”. Electric Callboy are about to bring their Tanzneid World Tour and this new album to Brisbane and Australia in 2026.
Electric Callboy are a German six-member band comprising of Daniel Haniß, Daniel Klossek, Kevin Ratajczak, Pascal Schillo, Nico Sallach and Frank Zummo, who formed in Castrop-Rauxel in 2010. The band developed out of an earlier ‘electronicore’ band called Eskimo Callboy. Therefore, the history and present of Electric Callboy are in EDM. The approach to the record is also out of the EDM playbook: an album with a made-up name, ‘Tanzneid’, allegedly meaning “dance envy”, and eight of the 10 songs released as singles first, with another four remixes included. The band makes it clear what metalcore is absorbing here.
The album opens with the title song ‘Tanzneid’ and it’s “everybody jump around” and “everybody get down” as the 1990s synths pulse and the dance-pop hits “gimme gimme” as the dark vocal fry urges the listener to the “dark side” to fill “the hole inside of me” as the aerobic dance beats collide with the machine gun drums. It is followed by the huge collaborative song with Japan’s kawaiicore darlings BABYMETAL featured on ‘RATATATA’. It’s all infectious synth melodies, drum beats, crushing guitar riffs and cute female vocal layering that could easily be heard pulsing through a German club. Then, the Europop of ‘Hypercharged’ “explodes”...“oh-oh” as its feel-good energy with a huge chorus that “can feel its pounding heart”.
The Offspring turn up for ‘Let The Good Times Roll’ and it’s cheesy referencing to their songs. Fun. But cheesy! It’s hardcore EDM wrapped in metalcore for ‘Elevator Operator’ as the bounciest synth work hits and I can see this going off in gyms around the world or on TikTok. The first of the non-single releases is ‘Heartclub’ and it is metalcore! Big drums, dark vocal fry and amazing drumming until the clean vocals cut in, allowing for enthralling shifts within the song. It’s an album highlight with its aggressive roaring. The metalcore boyband parody “ballad” of ‘Just The Way You Are’ is a joke and thankfully short. Following, there is a cover of Sum 41’s ‘Still Waiting’ and it is a fitting showcase for new drummer Frank Zummo to prove he belongs behind the drum kit – the drumming is first rate.
The second of the non-single releases is ‘The Savior’ and it has that European hair metal sound from the 1980s. It brings together synth-pop drums, big vocals and vocal growls. Child-like choir voices chant about the midnight sun in ‘Revery’ and the big metal breakdown hits even harder in the dark fairytale contrast as stealing souls “makes me feel alive”.
“We’ve got the moves” as the after-party starts with the remixes. It’s clubland ahoy! Where’s my glow stick? ‘We Got the Moves’ (Sullivan King Remix) is Eurpop. The 1990s ‘Tanzneid’ (Paolo Ferrara Remix) is like the KLF. I loved the KLF! Then, the cheesy ‘Hypercharged’ (Paul Elstak Remix) and ‘Revery’ (Sullivan King Remix) close out the album.
I said this album, ‘Tanzneid’, had a cheesy feel and maybe, like ultra-processed food, this music will give you a sugar high, but will it last? The “beat says yeah”, but this jury is out!
