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Rating:
I won't be brief.
When I ordered this album from my (then) trusted store, I had just turned 17. It was 1997, at the height of the chemical beats wave: artists like Prodigy, Goldie, Chemical Brothers, Massive Attack, Portishead, and Tricky were producing one amazing album after another, and looking back, they were truly "experimental" for the channels they were intended for (radio, television, etc.).
Personally, I was very intrigued by the fusion of rave culture, punk rock sounds, and hip hop language from some of the bands that emerged during that period: however, I knew there was something even more extreme and unconventional out there.
I am referring, of course, to Atari Teenage Riot, a band from Germany led by the troubled and fierce leader (and in this case, the term is very fitting) Alec Empire, often absurdly compared to Trent Reznor. But fortunately, the music and the content of this group are not even comparable to the bland, faux-evil technodark of Nine Inch Nails: Atari Teenage Riot was anger, real anger, 100% outrage provoked by a post-1989 (the fall of the Berlin Wall) era that brought with it a massive nationalist exploitation by the media, primarily focusing on the consequent marginalization of minorities and the glorification of capitalism.
Berlin, as everyone knows, has always been a "hot" city. The general unrest in the early '90s was at an all-time high, and the neo-Nazi movement was clearly regaining momentum: others, as Empire himself noted in an interview, were trying to escape this frustration by seeking solace in the early synthetic drugs and raves.
It was from this situation that Empire came to a drastic conclusion: "the system must be destroyed," and he applied it to music, expressing all the repressed violence and strong political message in the group's early singles (also including MC Carl Crack and frontgirl Hanin Elias), many of which are contained in this "Burn, Berlin, Burn!", an effective summary of their output until 1997.
I believe this is the ideal album for anyone wanting to approach Atari Teenage Riot or for those who prefer to leave them be: you either love them or hate them; there's no middle ground. And there is no middle ground with their sound either, which is the most fierce and uncompromising ever created in music: Empire & co.'s lyrics, mainly composed of slogans advocating for nihilism, revolution, total anarchy, and hatred towards any form of power, are shouted over a backdrop that is a genuine sonic assault without pauses.
Death metal riffs sampled on hardcore bases, impending catastrophic atmospheres, as if we were all standing before Judgment Day with Empire and his followers leading a revolt against the world's governments.
There is no peace, no serenity: only blind rage and a desire to overthrow the system.
The initial "Start The Riot" is an entire manifesto of the group’s intentions: "are you readieeeeeeeee?", the wild fury begins among distortions, dissonances of all kinds, and a grim and imperious BPM. "FUCK ALL!!" introduces with a piercing AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH from Helias, who proves to be as angry as her companion Alec. Words are insufficient to describe the unprecedented violence of these pieces, true anthems of suburban revolution, which however hide a clear thought pattern of the German band: music and words must not be separated from each other, as "Riot sounds produce riots", and in the end, this is the key element for interpreting a project like this.
The approach, after all, is the same as "Metal Machine Music": the noise that covers the hypocrisy, the standardization of art, the submission of man's primary instincts for the benefit of a "progress" that touches the few and penalizes the many. This is the spirit that animates extreme and brutal episodes like "P.R.E.S.S." and, above all, "Destroy 2000 Years Of Culture" where the main target is the oppressive and discriminatory politics carried out by the Catholic Church.
"Delete Yourself" is almost an homage to '77 punk (with an effective sample of "God Save The Queen") and the caustic "Deutschland Has Gotta Die!" supported by the fiery vocal performance of the three riots, is probably the most anti-patriotic song of all time. "Into The Death" is built on an old-school death riff repeated continuously, wild hardcore beats, drum'n'bass insertions, also revealing the remarkable versatility of the band demonstrated in other outbursts like "Speed" which, however, leave a minimum space for melody.
Tracks like "Revolution Action" or "Digital Hardcore" were yet to come, but I believe these are the most genuine ATR, those of an Empire who truly believed he could kick the world's ass, mindful of the horrible end of some of his family members slaughtered in the Nazi death camps because they were suspected of socialist sympathies.
This was a group that could never have emerged from the USA, where Slipknot dress up as killer clowns just because in the village where they were born, they were bored among cows and chickens: this was a group that came from real hardship and expressed real anger, not artificial. That same year (1997), the Japanese noise artist Nic Endo joined ATR.
Hanin Elias has released several solo works and has become a mother.
In September 2001, Carl Crack, who had long suffered from depression and mental disorders, committed suicide.
Alec Empire, after a period of personal crisis, embarked on a solo career and in 2002 released the double album "Intelligence & Sacrifice".
It's needless to say that Atari Teenage Riot no longer exists.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
02 Fuck All! (03:08)
It's about time that the atari teenage riot is taking over...
And some people look at you and they ask you:
Where is the fun you promised me ? ? ? ? ?
F**k! you won't cry for me! turn around my ideas...
I don't need your f**kin' attitude!
F**k all! f**k all! (x3)
Cut all policemen into pieces!
F**k all! f**k all! (x4)
I just don't know... what you try to tell me
This can't be true!
You make me feel nothing! nothing!
You lie to yourself!
Come on , you stupid pig! get the f**k away!
F**k all! f**k all! (x5)
Did you try to say anything? but how?
You can't escape! you can't!
Losing control doesn't always have to lead into danger!
You have no choice or do you wanna stay a slave?
Are you going to resign? are you going to resign?
We disharmonize the entertainment industry!
Let's destroy the future! from here! from now!
We are resistance! we are the resistance!
Only when the old has died the new has a change to be born...
F**k all! f**k over the state!
F**k all! f**k all! (x5)
Now it's your turn - we've got other things to do!
You can't return now...you can't return!
F**k all! f**k all! (x4)
You can't return...
03 Sick to Death (03:40)
I will fuck the system !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm sick to death like I've never been sick before !!!!!!
I'm sick to death like I've never been sick before !!!!!!
Sick to death ! sick to death ! sick to death !
I'm sick to death like I've never been sick before !!!!!!
I wanna destroy !
When you touch me I wanna cut you
And you suck for more !!!!!!!
I could die for you when you put lipstick on my brain !
DIVING THRU THE NIGHT....
GET CAUGHT UP IN AN ENDLESS FIGHT !!!!!!!
I WANNA BE THE MOVER TO REAL ANARCHY !!!!!!!
Burn Berlin burn !!!!!!!!!! burn Berlin burn !!!!!!!!
Burn Berlin burn !!!!!!!!!! BURN BERLIN BURN !!!!!!!!
I'm sick to death like I've never been sick before !!!!!!
I'm sick to death like I've never been sick before !!!!!!
Sick to death ! sick to death ! sick to death !
I'm sick to death like I've never been sick before !!!!!!
Nation against nation !!!!!!
Nobody speaks up but we are laughing !!!!!!!!
Nationalism against nationalism !!!!!!!!
Burn Berlin burn !!!!!!!!
As we got bigger the others get weaker !
Fuck a 1.000.000 trendy hardcore members !!!!!!
never talk! always listen !
I won't be afraid of the new time !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BURN BERLIN BURN !!!!!!!! Burn Berlin burn !!!!!!!!!!
Burn Berlin burn !!!!!!!!!! burn Berlin burn !!!!!!!!
I'm sick to death like I've never been sick before !!!!!!
I'm sick to death like I've never been sick before !!!!!!
Sick to death ! sick to death ! sick to death !
I'm sick to death like I've never been sick before !!!!!!
I'm sick to death !
You can't stop me !
You can't stop me !
I'm sick to death like I've never been sick before !!!!!!
04 P.R.E.S.S. (04:19)
This is a story that must be told
This is a story that must be told...
You tell lies! You tell lies!
P.R.E.S.S.! P.R.E.S.S.! (x5)
Sell your units!
Sell your lies all over and over again!
Others do and you just follow!
Never act! always react!
The industry pays you...
You suck their dicks on and on!
Your need is always to control!
90% of you is fucking shit!
Spread your lies!
When you write you destroy what others create!
You live of other lives...
Your comments do not count for us!
Which side are you on?
To ignore - That's the only real power that you have
You never understand! you never try!
And what you don't understand - You can't describe!
P.R.E.S.S.! P.R.E.S.S.! (x3)
Come on Alec fuck the shit up.....
Press - Fuck you!
Most of you don't have any opions!
You are not interested in the truth!
Sometimes it's better not to describe!
Never take a stand - Always react!
Which side are you on?
P.R.E.S.S.! P.R.E.S.S.! (x6)
This is a story that must be told...
05 Deutschland (Has Gotta Die!) (03:02)
Deutschland has gotta die! (eins, zwei, drei, vier!)
Wake up! wake up! get off your knees...
Where will the west strike next?
The war is still between east and west...
Money talks! money! you're so bored and sick!
Lets burn germany!
Building up economy of dead bodies! that's what they want!
We react very strongly to tranquilizers you know...
I need a diversion for a silent escape! harder! faster!
You know what they're after
You haven't suffered the same as I have!
Senseless neverending terror!
We make em nervous... we make em nervous! (x3)
Deutschland has gotta die!
Wake up! wake up! get off your spleen!
What will the west strike next?
The war is still between east and west...
Money talks! money knows!
You're so bored and sick!
Let's burn deutschland!
The bloody wankers tried to pull us down...
Blow'em up! blow'em up!
The bloody wankers try to pull us down but
We're gonna smash them in! (x4)
The time is right to fight!
06 Destroy 2000 Years of Culture (03:51)
It's a dead world...
And it's about that time to clear things here!
One generation follows another...
But something in my head says:
Keep going! don't give up!
Cold sweat - running down my back!
I don't fear the chaos!
A reason to fight is not making a stronger man
Cause they don't understand!
I won't calm down! I won't calm down!
What am I supposed to do?
It's hard to realize that the time is running out!
Pow! we're on the move! resist worldwide!
Cause it takes two...
Your money is full of blood and I know this for sure -
We're gonna take over!
Radical! terrorize! and I'm not gonna tell you lies!
Our chances are low - too many problems we got!
F**k the police! blow them out!
Destroy 2000 years of culture! destroy 2000 years of culture! (x4)
(move! we gotta move! move! we gotta move!) (x 3)
Move! I shout it out loud!
We're radical and we're proud of it...
Change the things - together we stand and load the gun and make 'em swing'!
Love is a wonderful thing - a secret - a game
And I sing the song of freedom to hate!
Try to think international!
Destroy 2000 years of culture! destroy 2000 years of culture!
Destroy!
Destroy 2000 years of culture! destroy! destroy! (x3)
Destroy 200 years of culture! (x3)
(move! we gotta move! move! we gotta move!) (x2)
Destroy 2000 years
Your freedom to speak is a freedom to lie
Whatever it takes to change .. I'm up for it!
There's no place where noone gets hurt...
A place where I can be on my own!
You should feel guilty if you're just watching!
There's this pain and a constant sound in my head...
They always try and get you back to what they define as reality!
There's nothing to lose but watch your back!
It's cold out here... (don't wait too long!)
Destroy 2000 years of culture! destroy! destroy! (x6)
(move! we gotta move! move! we gotta move!) (x4)
Destroy 2000 years of culture! destroy 2000 years of culture!
07 Not Your Business (02:32)
1, 2, 3, 4!
You get stupid every day - every night - more! more!
What you gonna do? more!
Do it not me! war!
You wanna be rich! rich! rich! rich! f**k! f**k!
You gonna die!
Perfect death in a colourfull tv screen
See me! see me! see nothing! switch off!
Come with me through the wall of time
See you every day we gonna watch you every second
But that's not your business! but that's not your business!
But that's not your business! but that's not your business!
1, 2, 3, 4!
But that's not your business! that's not your business!
But that's not your business! that's not your business!
Agression! opression! f**k the fashion system!
Where you gonna suck is where you gonna lie!
Lie! lie! lie! you lied to me! to me! to me! t.o.m.e.!
Vicious! vicious! where you gonna ****
But that's not your business!
That's not your business! that's not your business! (x3)
1, 2, 3, 4!
That's not your business! that's not your business! (x3)
Don't try and treat me like the shit you eat every day!
Our days are numbered!!
08 Heatwave (02:43)
1. 2. 3. 4. !
Try my identity - you wanna kill yourself - you gonna see !
I captured you in your TV - your beauty is your worst enemy !
Don't even try to be ! Avoid the shit and give the key
Never listen to what you say ! ! Never gonna die for Germany !
I'm like a heatwave burning thru your heart...
I look in the mirror and what do I see ?
It will all end in anarchy !
I feel the wankers speeding up the truth
And the pussies eating up the fools
Stop telling me the bullshit of conspiracy
you seem as naive as democracy...
I'm like a heatwave
I'm like a heatwave they say...
let's go !
ATARI TEENAGE RIOT !
May I ask you ? Where are the results ?
Where are the results ?
Where you gonna go ? What you gonna do about it ???
As I left the supermarket two policeman grapped me and they said :
"You're the cunt that we were waiting for..."
They didn't need a reason they never do...
The state uses violence to keep everything in their order !
We don't use violence to find a role in this society !
We use violence to beat this society !
Boredom causes a stillstand - no movement
See what you get outta this...
Tell me the truth !!!!
Tell me the truth !!!!!!!
heatwave !!! heatwave !!!! I'm like a heatwave they say !!!!
09 Atari Teenage Riot (03:35)
I will be more successful than all those that went before me
Because the time is right the, the season is right, you are right, the conditions are right
We must go free! now! now is the time!
Go!
Are you ready?
1, 2, 3, 4!
After west german takeover berlin youth were just getting used to their new found freedoms:
House, drugs, squats denied despite food and money shortages
Since perestroika planet soviet union has changed
There's a new world in which young people can work together!
Come on - let's work together!
The most famous suckers are elvis presley, james dean
And the most photographed universally known of them all - marilyn monroe
But the times are changing and you'll see that the last chance will be an atari teenage riot
Atari teenage riot!
What did you say? what did you say? what did you say?
Atari teenage riot!
There won't be any experts there to say you should do this you should do that
I don't care what anyone does to our records... I just don't wanna be looking at it
Come on!
I don't wanna punish people - I wanna punish myself
As much as well with the music I think that's part of the reason
But anyway... the last chance will be an atari teenage riot
Atari teenage riot!
What did you say? what did you say? what did you say?
Atari teenage riot!
Power for those who can f**k it
Freedom for those who can find it
Sex for those who can buy it
Television today never lies
What did you say?
Atari teenage riot!
10 Delete Yourself (04:30)
You put on the videohelmet
And ymu quickly realize that this is not just another videogame
Your entire field of vision fills with another worldly scene
You're in the game!
One day will come you enter the cyberspace
And you never ever want to get out
Cause reality is shit and cyberspace is gone:
Delete Yourself - Delete Yourself
GO!
Are you ready?
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
The shit the shit is gonna make me sick
You're telling me this I tell you that
You're sitting there fat and what do you get?
Is nothing for your money!
No chance to win that's what I tell you
But find it out your problem isn't mine
Try to feel something any longer
Ha! We're getting stronger!
The end of the new age that's what it is!
Let's take the piss there's nothing to risk
Oh come on! Shoot the fuckers and sweat the technique
Two blind eyes that's what we need
Go away and play your game!
HERE'S THE ORDER:
Delete Yourself!
GO!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
FBI and CIA
I'm waiting for the day when they stop playing
1984 is a joke when you see where we are 10 YEARS LATER!
War will be a warm up and then it will be forgotten
Politicians lie while others die - I'VE HAD ENOUGH!
Tell the truth that's what I want
Tell a lie I can't decide whether it's right or wrong
Fuck the system, man, fuck it up!
START THE RIOT! START IT NOW!
YOU DON'T KNOW? WE TELL YOU HOW!
Come policeman shoot me down! You'll lose ATR is around!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win
13 Speed (02:48)
News, Drug abuse to the future and the hippocrytes cry:
Who dies next?
And I tell you a story from the underground nothing funny about
Get down to get hyped!
Kill me and no one's gonna miss me...
Feel the heat of the highway! To the car to the key of reality!
More and more and more and there's no way back! Bored I am .. Yes I Can!
You may not count in the New World Order!
And now it's time to die
cause I can see the sun the end is near I'm feeling high ...
How fast can I run?
Risin', risin' to the top
the pills are ready to be dropped
1, 2, 3 and 4 - Got the joker shoot the score!
Speed! Just wouldn't believe it!
Speed! Just wouldn't believe it!
Speed! Just wouldn't believe it! Speed!
Speed! Just wouldn't believe it!
Speed! Just wouldn't believe it!
Speed! Just wouldn't believe it! Speed!
Speed! Speed! Speed! Speed! Speed! Speed! Speed! Speed!
Tomorrow, tomorrow, always tomorrow
There is no future in the weastern dreamin'!
We feel it, we must beat'em !
It's too late to create a new world!
Alternative living it must be given a chance!
Water the problem's solution! No solution if you can't use it!
And then I heard the siren of the police!
My blood went up to 90 degrees!
You can't see white cats in the snow
Oh human being, how low can you go?
Risin', risin' to the top
the pills are ready to be dropped
1, 2, 3 and 4
Got the joker shoot the score!
Speed! Just wouldn't believe it!
Speed! Just wouldn't believe it!
Speed! Just wouldn't believe it! Speed!
Speed! Just wouldn't believe it!
Speed! Just wouldn't believe it!
Speed! Just wouldn't believe it! Speed!
Speed! Speed! Speed! Speed! Speed! Speed! Speed! Speed!
14 The Future of War (03:44)
Is this the future? Is this the future?
Is this the future of war? Is this the future of war?
Is this the future of war?
The future of war! The future of war! The future of war!
Come on down to the end of the future...
We not gonna make it another day
Fighting the fight we have to fight!
You not gonna make me run away!
A white moon is shining down on me...
Where do we belong? Where do we belong?
Punk for money, piss for gold
Nothing ain't what it used to be!
I don't fear the live I wanna live
I don't fear the nothing I have to see:
The future of war! The future of war! (x3)
We never talked a revolution
We never played the cliche!
That was you having old images in your head!
We do not need to provoke anyone...It's just a waste of time
Two minutes before action...
Check my card - It's O.K.
Check my soul and throw it away!
Crack my life and you gonna die!
I saw his eyes...
A pose like this at midnight!
It's obvious that capitalism has failed!
This is the future...
The future of war! The future of war!
The future of war! It's like a heatwave burning through my soul!
The future of war! The future of war!
The future of war! The future of war!
War! War! War! War! War! War! War!
The future is war!
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