Amon Düül II
Phallus Dei

The Germany of the '60s was the cradle of avant-garde cultures; among the many projects born and carried forward in the artistic fields, there was one of fundamental relevance, Amon Düül, which formed in Munich in an anarchist-freak commune of a dozen people; the libertine group drew inspiration, to name their creation, from the Egyptian Sun god, Amon, and a character from a Turkish novel, Düül.

Following the split of the original group, Amon Düül II forcefully entered the musical scene, eclipsing the dim light emitted by their "cousins", Amon Düül I.
The pagan ritualism haunts every track of their works, which manifest the development of complex sounds, in an oscillating supremacy of avant-garde and naïve primitivism. At the heart of their musicality are free sessions of psychedelia and free-rock, an acidic haze in which their vein of recalling the mysterious East, the jarring electronics, and the acoustic digressions that peek through, surrounded by gothic atmospheres, mix with schizophrenic and noisy methods.

The mix produced flows entirely into their debut work, Phallus Dei, a result of musical experimentation and political commitment by the members who supported the utopian "Flower-Power".

It all begins with the splendid Ouverture, "Kanaan", the melody impresses with its majestic grandeur, an immersion into that unknown world that is esotericism; the vocals' mystery accompanies its rhythm of Tribal nature with strong percussion and visionary guitars. A triumphant entry through the high vault of the dark gate leading to the oblivion of Dante's gloomy and sinister hell.

"Dem Guten, Schönen, Wahren" immediately falls into the psychoanalytic nightmare, a swirling chaos of screams and mad screeching violins, making it all even more bizarre is the chanting and deep voice of Lothar Meid which breaks into frenzied falsettos.

The infernal atmosphere converges entirely into the title track, "Phallus Dei", a jam of over twenty minutes that presents a multiple range of sounds; the subdued beginning is swallowed by the cosmic and grotesque sounds, screams, and harps at the edge of the usual. The instruments play more and more disorderly and skewed until reaching total chaoticity.

A volcano of infinite sound resources, it results in an elaborate fine work, guiding the listener into the imaginary circle of the damned...it is the exaltation of the murky human spirit.