Einstürzende Neubauten
Fünf auf der nach oben offenen Richterskala

THE REVIEW

The fourth LP by Einstürzende Neubauten, dated 1987, is probably their darkest work. Blixa Bargeld (vocals), Mark Chung (guitars), Alexander Hacke (bass), F. M. Einheit and N. U. Unruh (striking anything that happens to come their way), set aside part of the arsenal that had characterized the steel-like sound of their previous works: their disfigured compositions begin to take on more distinct features, at times near-melodies emerge. So, away with the pneumatic hammers and circular saws, but we remain in the workshop, more daunting than ever and reluctant to give in. Bargeld's lyrics are hermetic, made of a few, calibrated words, the sound is sparse, bare, essential.

It begins. A bass tolls mournfully in the middle of a desolate landscape where silence reigns supreme; after a few seconds, we are walking through the wreckage of an abandoned industrial area, in the dead of night. The piece in question is the incredible "Zerstörte Zelle," an unsettling advance, a masterpiece of eight minutes in which the tension increases ever more, finally releasing in the final madness of frenzied strings and chilling screams.
What to expect after such a start? Well, anything but Tim Rose's "Morning Dew" cover with its western flavor - even though it's the cruelest, dirtiest, sweatiest western imaginable. "Morning Dew" immediately captivates with its compelling rhythm, without even realizing it, we've already cranked up the volume and our legs move on their own to keep up the beat, until Bargeld's final throes get the better of us.
The subsequent "Ich bin's" and "MoDiMiDoFrSaSo" are two frenetic, relentless tracks, with no respite in their cold and hallucinatory atmosphere; the percussion by Einheit and Unruh is astonishing and "MoDiMiDoFrSaSo" takes on the guise of an obsessive dance, with unexpected pauses and disconcerting instrumental insertions.
With "12 Städte" we return to more subdued and minimal tones. Another lengthy track - built on a monotonous and exhausting bass - whose procession seems to want to lead the listener towards a nervous collapse ("Kollaps" is the title of their first LP), to the collapse (Einsturz) that for the five Berliners is fundamental and programmatic.
Then comes "Keine Schönheit ohne Gefahr." Magic. One of the creative peaks of the entire band's production. A work of art sustained on a distortion into which sounds and noises insert themselves, a "verdammte Falle," as repeated in the lyrics, this track is a "damned trap."
The album closes with "Kein Bestandteil sein," which envelops us in its darkness, with a truly unsettling Bargeld and an always superb rhythm section. A circular closure, a return to the beginning, as if we were now trapped in this gloomy, ruined reality and had lost ourselves in it, condemned to eternally search for an escape route.
Because from this reality, we feel the alienation and the "not wanting to be part of it."