Mephisto Walz
Mephisto Walz

In the second half of the '80s, when dark-wave was already waning, guitarist Barry Galvin and bassist Johann Schumann formed the band Mephisto Walz, after having been part of the entourage of the more famous Christian Death (already without Rozz Williams) and having played on their album "Atrocities".

Maintaining a sound style similar to that already showcased with their "cousins" Christian Death, the two founded Mephisto Walz and released a first EP with a self-titled release, containing six tracks. Their adventure companions were the brawny drummer Arndt Flake and the singer Creature, a grotesque androgynous figure with a gothic-erotic look. The debut immediately attracted some interest among the still abundant ranks of dark-sound aficionados, and in Italy, it was Supporti Fonografici that distributed this vinyl with a fuchsia cover, receiving good responses.

Mephisto Walz indeed didn't add anything new to what had already been said by Bauhaus, Christian Death, and other more anonymous Teutonic groups. After all, they themselves were 90% German. But this didn't mean they were banal, as they offered a compelling vision of the world through certainly not optimistic lyrics and an aggressive and chilling rhythmic substrate.

Guitars loaded with distortion and flanger, dry drumming (with a very limited use of the hi-hat and often tribal-like nuances), an unrelenting bass-line, and rarely melodic singing. A sharp and relentless mix that only in the cadenced ancestral litany of "Aborigenee Requiem" finds expansive atmospheres – and not any less dark for that matter. More pressing are the semi-instrumental "Eternal Deep" and "Spoken Word" with lyrics in German, which counterbalance the thundering rides of "Porcelain Gods" and "Fallen Angel", where the connection with the sound of Christian Death from "Atrocities" becomes evident. But it is with "Trible Conflict", the opening track, that Mephisto Walz conveys their entire artistic philosophy: it is especially in the verses sung by Creature that a disillusioned conception of a world oppressed by racial conflicts and the logic of economic power is summarized.

Later on, Galvin's band would not repeat themselves at these levels, although they released several records with some good ideas and attempted the female vocalist route (in my opinion, never quite on par). What is certain is that the guitars were the most evident trademark of this minor group, which between 1986 and 1988 managed to give us a spark of honest and creative gothic adrenaline. Their compositional skills weren't bad, and even the iconographic ensemble of the band had its own identity.