Einstürzende Neubauten
Berlin Babylon

THE REVIEW

When it comes to Industrial, it's easy to fall into the clichéd commonplaces. The same discussion applies to the works of Einsturzende Neubauten.

They will sing to you of sonic hyperboles beyond the reach of the collective imagination of the time ("Kollaps" or "Halber Mensch"), they will sing to you about how much of a genius Blixa Bargeld is. But what's new? Nothing. That's why I hope to succeed in urging someone to unearth this underground gem, equally overshadowed by the band's masterpieces and collective overtalk.

Indeed, here we are faced with an emotional and dark work, grown in the embryo of a Germany that even after years still struggles to shake off the lethargy caused by the shattered bricks of the Berlin Wall. The starting point for this work came from Hubertus Siegert, director of the eponymous documentary (by the way, very beautiful). The music of Einsturzende Neubauten here serves as a trait d'union between images and sensations, relentlessly bringing the listener's mind back to 1989 Germany. The album is cohesive, each piece serves as an input for the next, it's a chain succession of emotions, martial and industrial sounds, atmospheres of a symphonic-like kind and moments of sonic tranquility mixed with inner turmoil.

If this fragment of history moves you, if you love the more reflective Blixa Bargeld, and if you need to seek true emotion, and I mean true (!!), this is the album for you. Not a milestone, not a masterpiece; simply a work out of time, out of schemes, and beyond business logics.