Einstürzende Neubauten
9-15-2000, Brussels

THE REVIEW

Formed in Berlin in 1980 by Blixa Bargeld, guitarist of the Bad Seeds, Einstürzende Neubauten (literally "New Buildings Collapsing") have represented a significant part of the industrial rock avant-garde over the past twenty years, offering music characterized by distorted, hammering, dark, and obsessive forms.

The double CD originates from the live recording held at the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels in 2000 and is the celebration of the group's twentieth anniversary.
Released only in 2002, this work is a significant testament to the musical "Weltanschauung" of these crazy Germans: a splendid delirium of screams and whispers, dizzying effects and circular noises, silences and sound fractures, sudden accelerations and unpredictable pauses.

A clear example of their music is represented by the opening track of the album, Silence Is Sexy: the slow tempos of the piece, dictated by the repeated drags of the singer's cigarette, explode in a sudden clamor of shattered metal.
One of their main characteristics is indeed the use of "atypical instruments" like pneumatic hammers, stones, pipes, and jars.
Other tracks, like NNNAAMMM, captivate with the continuous enrichment of different sounds and rhythms, while in Beauty they offer continuous and annoying backgrounds, like those of urban traffic.

Overall, the album, once the impact of the first listens is overcome, proves to be truly interesting and entertaining, even if it cannot convey the theatricality of the Berlin group. It still represents a good starting point for those who want to explore their music, perhaps in anticipation of a concert.