warning: beware of politcal rants and excessive praising of german music

Sunday, March 20, 2005

it was cloudy, cold, and awful in tucson, and since most of my family's plans revolved around outdoor activities such as hiking, i was rather bored. i listened to musik a lot. and actually decided to write about it. so here it is: lost's ramblings about the weird german bands she has discovered and isn't really sure that she likes. thought about putting this in the music review thread but decided it isn't reviews as much as confused ramblings. i wrote about bands i don't really like or don't know if i like instead of ones i love, cause those reviews would be like "listen to tanzwut or die." i list my favorite album/song at teh end of each review...


Umbra et Imago- a very average band... the only thing that really distinguishes UI from other average gothic/metallish bands is their stage show, which is... well... look at the gallery on the website. some of it may be NSFW, haven't looked thru most of it. the singer, mozart, has a very unimpresive voice that in most of UI's songs sounds strained or out of place... but in one song, "märchenland," it fits perfectly. it seems much stronger and fits teh mood of the song very well. i don't know what the song is about (probably bdsm like most of their songs). i wouldn't call the song good, but somethign about the kinda airy, slow metallness of this song makes me keep listening to UI and their average musik. (songs: märchenland, prinz vogelfrei. album: hmm... maybe memento mori)


Das Ich- electronic, very odd musik. this band fancies itself to be quite demonic: most of their songs are about hell, angels, the apocalypse, etc. most pictures of the band show them attempting to look like demons.. i can't decide if their musik and stage appearance is absurd or creepy. or cool. the singer is stick-thin and "dances" (jerks spasmodically) as tehy perform; the two keyboarders play keyboards attached to a central pole so they can wander in circles if they want. most of the songs consist of odd background electronic noises with the singer yelling or simply speaking the lyrics. however, some songs completely take me by surprise. when i first heard 'garten eden' i had to check that i was still listening to das ich, as the singer was actually singing, quite nicely in fact. many of their songs sound somewhat similar, and nothing is particularly good about them, but occaisionally i come across a track that reaffirms my belief that this group actually does have some musical ability. (songs: 'garten eden,' 'das dunkel land,' 'kindgott.' album: egodram or antichrist)


Blutengel- not much at all can be said in favor of this band. BELOW-average electrogothic crap with an awful male vocalist and an average female singer (or maybe 2?). however... "children of the night" is a song with absolutely dreadful lyrics and 'music.'... i keep listening to it. why? i have absolutely no idea what i find interesting about this song. (songs: none. album: none)


Samsas Traum- what on earth can i say about this band? the vocalists are just plain weird, as is the erratic musik that may either be brilliance or insanity. judging by the singers, the latter is more likely. electronic with samples of simple kid's melodies or massive orchestral performances thrown in seemingly randomly.. then a singer who is either tweaking or half-asleep (no middle ground) comes in. i have no idea whether i hate this musik or like it. maybe the day i announce that i like samsas traum i will be carted off to a mental institution. (song: can't really tell them apart. album: 'utopia' makes a bit more sense than 'tineoidea oder: die folgen einer nacht' but is by no means coherent.)


ASP- another odd german electronic band. gothic rock i suppose. their musik is nearer techno than i'd care to admit, and many times i wonder if i like it or not. at least with ASP i find the vocals interesting... i still dont' know how many singers tehy have.. at least one has an awesome voice that, while it isn't the kind of voice you would normally associate with this kind of musik, doesn't seem as though it could really fit anywhere else. i nearly thought my brain would explode when i heard a samsas traum remix of an ASP song. some songs approach techno status, while others seem nearer electronic blues, if there ever was such a thing. (songs: 'ich will brennen,' 'bessessen,' 'versuchung.' and the version of 'versuchung' where mozart from umbra et imago guest-sings is pretty good. album: weltunter)


Illuminate- wow. i hate illuminate. musik and singer/s are awful... the singer is kinda nasal, childish-sounding.. musik is i suppose an attempt at medieval.. or gothic.. or electronic... whatever it is, i hate it. yet, i keep listening to it. (no song/album recs)


Atrocity- i forget what it's called... metal with orchestras/choirs.. whatever the genre, atrocity doesn't seem at first to be any more interesting than the myriads of screaming, headbanging metal bands out there. 'enigma' was the first song i heard, and a good thing too. if i had heard 'morbid minds' or some of their earlier stuff first i would have dismissed atrocity as just another average metal band. if i had taken others' advice that their earlier albums are better, again i would have thought atrocity average. 'atlantis,' their most recent album, is very good IMO. it really sounds like... atlantis.. or at least the ocean. some of the tracks, like 'morbid minds' are regressions to averageness, but others like 'enigma' and 'aeon' save atrocity in my mind. (songs: 'enigma,' 'aeon.' album: 'atlantis')


Unheilig- i am positive about my feelings toward this band. i love the singer's voice. der graf has one of those amazingly deep, purely masculine voices, which is awesome. if i were to compare it to any other singer, i suppose it is comparable to alexx wesselsky (formerly of megaherz, currently of eisbrecher). another thing i know about unheilig: the musik is nothing special. however, in this case it is good that the musik isn't that great, as you can focus exclusively on der graf's wonderful voice. (songs: 'morgengrauen,' 'mein könig,' 'sternenschiff.' album: 'zelluloid.')

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