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Rating:
What to expect from Einsturzende Neubauten in the year 2014?
The German band has undoubtedly been the bearer of a fundamental experience for the history of music as a whole; an experience that, to be blunt, could have concluded at the end of the 1980s. I, not being blunt, appreciated the subsequent works, including side projects, but always with a furrowed brow, a wrinkled nose, and a hint of dissatisfaction on my tongue: eternal respect for a historical ensemble like Einsturzende Neubauten, which has never "betrayed" us with subpar works; the fact is that, as happens to practically everyone, sooner or later one ages, inspiration fades, and craftsmanship takes over. And we end up settling for classy and well-packaged albums, but no longer animated by the original flame of inspiration.
For "Lament", an overly ambitious project conceived to be performed live (the setting in which the work will find definitive completion), I feel inclined to think differently: a colossus of over seventy minutes themed around the First World War (we remember that 2014 marks the centenary of the outbreak of the Great War) is either an unlistenable brick or a masterpiece.
Personally, I tend to lean towards the latter, and this for at least a couple of reasons. On one hand, the enormous research effort behind it: "Lament" is primarily a conceptual work, where historiographical references abound (just read, in the internal booklet, the notes accompanying each track). On the other hand, the excellent realization: whether it's craftsmanship, experience, or an immense deployment of forces (including a chamber set accompanying the five Teutons on almost every stop of this journey), the fact remains that the formal balance achieved in this circumstance is truly remarkable, extraordinary when considering the complexity of the concept. The way the discourse is structured and developed, the fullness and refinement of the sounds and arrangements, the richness of the contents, and the high theme make "Lament" inevitably a masterpiece. Or at least the winning stroke of an old lion that returns to roar and dispense mastery after years of not fully convincing works. Who else, after all, could reach where the Neubauten fly today?
Musically "Lament" can be described as a range of percussive moments. If indeed the entire artistic journey of Einsturzende can be explained as a different intensity of the percussive theme, in a work like "Lament" the beat and pulses (whether it's the usual pipes hit with vehemence, or refined electronic patterns) come to acquire a first-class role: the percussion continuously evokes the theme of war through the martiality of a sound that becomes harsh or introspective depending on the moment (if acts such as Der Blutharsch, Les Joyaux de la Princesse, or Dernière Volonté do not come to mind, it would be fair to speak of martial industrial). And the percussion is the substance of "Lament's" sound, which nonetheless hosts everything one would expect from gentlemen in coats and ties who a little over thirty years ago shattered the music world with pneumatic hammers, and who today approach musical matters with the poised demeanor of cultured intellectuals.
A living room industrial, we could say, that, while not renouncing the primal chaos of the early days (see the caustic opener "Kriegsmaschinerie"), prefers to linger on solemn atmospheres with an ambient breath (the three sections of the sensational title track, a masterpiece within the masterpiece), moving from the twilight tones of catastrophic ballads (the dramatic crescendo of "How Did I Die?"), and exquisitely Dadaist monologues ("Der Beginn Des Weltkriegs 1914", a "trick" for voice alone) that highlight the unmistakable creativity of Blixa Bargeld, not only the charismatic leader of the band, but also a bearer of his experiences as a former member of the Bad Seeds and extraordinary fantasist in his recent solo works, both musical and otherwise. His grotesque recitation, continuously jumping from authoritative English to the emphasis of his peculiar spattered German, delves visionary into the thick mists of history, amidst overlapping voices and testimonies, amidst creaks, in silence, in the shadow of a monumental sound, along the twisted chessboard of a polyglot work (the thirteen minutes of "Der 1. Weltkrieg" are its apotheosis), which becomes universal like the tragedy it recounts.
Certainly, the rigor of the concept requires a great effort from the listener, who among other things will have to endure distorted national anthems ("Hymnen") and jaunty choruses of marching bands ("On Patrol in No Man’s Land"). But amidst sudden, tremendous sonic upheavals and the mediation of more reflective passages, through moments of great pathos and tension, never falling into the pathetic or easily tear-jerking or, worse yet, the overly serious, rather sliding towards the shores of irony and mockery, with intelligence, sensitivity, maturity, with full awareness and absolute mastery of the expressive tools available, the Einsturzende of "Lament" credibly bring the dramas of the First World War to the stage and into our homes.
If this is not the album of the year, it is only because by now Einsturzende Neubauten play "out of competition". And for "Lament", whether one likes it or not, the status of masterpiece becomes a due act.
The German band has undoubtedly been the bearer of a fundamental experience for the history of music as a whole; an experience that, to be blunt, could have concluded at the end of the 1980s. I, not being blunt, appreciated the subsequent works, including side projects, but always with a furrowed brow, a wrinkled nose, and a hint of dissatisfaction on my tongue: eternal respect for a historical ensemble like Einsturzende Neubauten, which has never "betrayed" us with subpar works; the fact is that, as happens to practically everyone, sooner or later one ages, inspiration fades, and craftsmanship takes over. And we end up settling for classy and well-packaged albums, but no longer animated by the original flame of inspiration.
For "Lament", an overly ambitious project conceived to be performed live (the setting in which the work will find definitive completion), I feel inclined to think differently: a colossus of over seventy minutes themed around the First World War (we remember that 2014 marks the centenary of the outbreak of the Great War) is either an unlistenable brick or a masterpiece.
Personally, I tend to lean towards the latter, and this for at least a couple of reasons. On one hand, the enormous research effort behind it: "Lament" is primarily a conceptual work, where historiographical references abound (just read, in the internal booklet, the notes accompanying each track). On the other hand, the excellent realization: whether it's craftsmanship, experience, or an immense deployment of forces (including a chamber set accompanying the five Teutons on almost every stop of this journey), the fact remains that the formal balance achieved in this circumstance is truly remarkable, extraordinary when considering the complexity of the concept. The way the discourse is structured and developed, the fullness and refinement of the sounds and arrangements, the richness of the contents, and the high theme make "Lament" inevitably a masterpiece. Or at least the winning stroke of an old lion that returns to roar and dispense mastery after years of not fully convincing works. Who else, after all, could reach where the Neubauten fly today?
Musically "Lament" can be described as a range of percussive moments. If indeed the entire artistic journey of Einsturzende can be explained as a different intensity of the percussive theme, in a work like "Lament" the beat and pulses (whether it's the usual pipes hit with vehemence, or refined electronic patterns) come to acquire a first-class role: the percussion continuously evokes the theme of war through the martiality of a sound that becomes harsh or introspective depending on the moment (if acts such as Der Blutharsch, Les Joyaux de la Princesse, or Dernière Volonté do not come to mind, it would be fair to speak of martial industrial). And the percussion is the substance of "Lament's" sound, which nonetheless hosts everything one would expect from gentlemen in coats and ties who a little over thirty years ago shattered the music world with pneumatic hammers, and who today approach musical matters with the poised demeanor of cultured intellectuals.
A living room industrial, we could say, that, while not renouncing the primal chaos of the early days (see the caustic opener "Kriegsmaschinerie"), prefers to linger on solemn atmospheres with an ambient breath (the three sections of the sensational title track, a masterpiece within the masterpiece), moving from the twilight tones of catastrophic ballads (the dramatic crescendo of "How Did I Die?"), and exquisitely Dadaist monologues ("Der Beginn Des Weltkriegs 1914", a "trick" for voice alone) that highlight the unmistakable creativity of Blixa Bargeld, not only the charismatic leader of the band, but also a bearer of his experiences as a former member of the Bad Seeds and extraordinary fantasist in his recent solo works, both musical and otherwise. His grotesque recitation, continuously jumping from authoritative English to the emphasis of his peculiar spattered German, delves visionary into the thick mists of history, amidst overlapping voices and testimonies, amidst creaks, in silence, in the shadow of a monumental sound, along the twisted chessboard of a polyglot work (the thirteen minutes of "Der 1. Weltkrieg" are its apotheosis), which becomes universal like the tragedy it recounts.
Certainly, the rigor of the concept requires a great effort from the listener, who among other things will have to endure distorted national anthems ("Hymnen") and jaunty choruses of marching bands ("On Patrol in No Man’s Land"). But amidst sudden, tremendous sonic upheavals and the mediation of more reflective passages, through moments of great pathos and tension, never falling into the pathetic or easily tear-jerking or, worse yet, the overly serious, rather sliding towards the shores of irony and mockery, with intelligence, sensitivity, maturity, with full awareness and absolute mastery of the expressive tools available, the Einsturzende of "Lament" credibly bring the dramas of the First World War to the stage and into our homes.
If this is not the album of the year, it is only because by now Einsturzende Neubauten play "out of competition". And for "Lament", whether one likes it or not, the status of masterpiece becomes a due act.
Tracklist
14 Der Beginn Des Weltkriegs 1914 (Dargestellt Unter Zuhilfenahme Eines Tierstimmenimitators) (05:45)
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