Bauhaus
In The Flat Field

THE REVIEW

Here it is, the registration confirmation email has arrived.. "now I too am part of the Debaser club" I think with satisfaction. I click, browse, and peek here and there through the reviews and... what? No, it can't be, there must be a mistake! Nothing on the legendary Bauhaus? Does no one know this iconic band? Nothing on "In the Flat Field," a seminal and epoch-making album, an absolute milestone of gothic and dark wave? Nothing about the deep emotions and the claustrophobic anguish that this album continues to evoke twenty-five years later, making it still extraordinarily modern and relevant even though it dates back to 1980? Nothing on the first track, splendid, "Double Dare", practically a manifesto of dark with the creepy and sinister opening riff that flows into an obsessive and martial beat? Nothing on the title track, where Peter Murphy's screams become desperate and at the same time majestic? Nothing on the next "God In An Alcove," almost boisterous in its stadium-like chorus and fascinating thanks to the robotic voice of the leader? And nothing indeed on this extraordinary singer, Peter Murphy, who is capable of spanning with disarming ease from the pure dark of the three aforementioned tracks to the pure rockabilly of "Dive"?
Then comes what, in my opinion, is the masterpiece of the entire album: "Spy In The Cab"... fantastic, unique in its cold opening to any form of communication to the outside. It is pure claustrophobia, cubed anguish, a sense of rarefied despair! It alone justifies purchasing the CD!

Then come the less fortunate "Small Talk Stinks" and "St. Vitus Dance" which in any case have the merit, if there was ever a need, to confirm Murphy's talents, the true protagonist of the whole work. At this point, one witnesses the authentic sacrificial rite of "Stigmata Martyr", a track that a lover of gothic finds hard not to fall in love with: the pressing and obsessive rhythm at first, the macaronic Latin pronounced by Murphy after and the lacerating closing screams create an irresistible mix, a true cult track.

The one that closes the album, "Nerves" is a hypnotic track, that seems never to end, almost reminding us of this band's endless music, which unfortunately never achieved great success in our country (even today it is very complicated to procure this masterpiece; I had to download it myself!) but which undoubtedly has one of the most exciting pages in the history of rock in general.