Werk 80

Do you want to get familiar with the ultimate crap? Here it is. Atrocity began as a more or less acceptable death metal unit, but they quickly started a remarkable evolution. Eh, what? Oh yes, I did not want to write "evolution", but "deformation". "Werk 80" is a miserable document of a quick-buck-approach. It's an attack against every honest (metal) musician, who tries to design (and to sell) an album that reflects his or her creativity. Atrocity just play well known songs without any individual element. Soulless and mechanized, mind-numbing and without a modicum of spontaneity, they try to get their market share at the expense of the really creative artists. They can do this shit, they also have the right to masturbate the whole day long and they can eat the excrements of their pet animals. But why do they make their painfully primitive, absolutely moronic cover versions public?

Stupid question, the answer is easy. They love money. And they have not understood the spirit of metal. Our beloved music is rebellion against the establishment, maybe not every time and anywhere, but this is its core. Atrocity don't give a fuck. They do not cover metal songs (this would have been no heroic deed as well, but perhaps acceptable), they lick the glossy polished boots of the pop industry. The rebellion is over, here comes the submission. These scapegraces even forgot to give the songs a metallic frame. There is no snot, no irony, no vileness. And it is completely irrelevant in this context whether the original versions of the songs were tolerable or not. (By the way, they weren't.) The crucial fact is that (death) metal bands should not fall in love with the fickle mainstream whose only constant feature is to avoid the filth of the dirty and obscene metal community.

As indicated above, one does not find metalized versions of the harmless originals. The warm vocals seem to be borrowed from an unknown (bad) pop band, keyboards and synthesizers dominate many songs and everything just sucks. Truly everything? What about the production; the albums shines with a clear, transparent and well-defined sound, doesn't it? Oh my God, of course it does. The clean mix is part of the more than dubious concept. Once again, Atrocity obviously did not intend to release metal versions and therefore they did not strive for a typical metal sound. They thought it would be a good idea to release new and different (well, not so different) pop versions. But it wasn't.

Does anybody need profound information concerning the single tracks? They have conventional song patterns and try to impress with catchy and kitschy choruses. I admit that some of them worked in their original pop surrounding. "Shout" scores with a very memorable chorus, "Wild Boys" contents tiny trace elements of a revolution and the non-conform "Der Mussolini" has a good drive. But each and every piece drowns in the sea of insignificance as soon as it is exposed to a metallic environment. Absolutely no track on this caricature of a metal album makes sense. While losing all credibility, Atrocity raped the spirit of metal and, cold comfort, they raped the pop tunes as well (unintentionally). The ridiculous, embarrassing and treacherous artwork summons the latex fetishists to take the bait. No doubt, this domina and her cello make the picture complete: "Werk 80" is the absolute nadir, at least for guys like me who will never, never lend an ear to "Werk 80 II".

This is the only covers-only album that I’m ever going to review. I generally hate such efforts since they don’t contribute much to the fan’s opinion about the original; you will certainly continue to love this favourite Kiss track of yours even if savagely butchered by Six Feet Under, for instance; and, you won’t develop any liking to this horrible Def Leppard tune even if interpreted by your most treasured black metal act. You won’t because such works are largely made by the musicians for themselves, with no any particular audience in mind, oftentimes intended as tributes to artists and songs that have been guidelines and influences throughout their careers.

In the best case scenario covers are only useful when they unearth a forgotten song from the past, one that should be known by more people. Making covers of numbers that can be heard on the radio any day is just pointless and ridiculous unless this is a special order, for commercial purposes mostly, coming from the production company… but even then. To move onto the album that is supposed to be reviewed here: the Atrocity opus doesn’t fit into the best case scenario obviously, at least not for half the time. And yet, somehow the song selection and their homogenous execution make them sound like a coherent album, something that can’t be said about the majority of such efforts where sometimes the style fluctuates like a leaf caught in a tempest, from a romantic French chanson to a ripping speed metal anthem.

No such drastic changes of mood and delivery here as everything is kept in a pleasant minimalistic mode the Tears for Fears’ perennial hit “Shout” opening the “ceremony” the band not making any radical changes to the original approach Alex Krull’s levelled, melancholic deep vocals pairing well with the angelic inclusions from Theatre of Tragedy’s Liv Kristine. “Rage Hard” is performed in a more subdued mode, with darker overtones compared to the original, but Duran Duran’s “Wild Boys” is brought with all the youthful vigour and enthusiasm staple for the band except in the vocal department Krull preserving his mildly pessimistic antics. “The Great Commandment” is a true revelation, sped up a bit to suit the metallized aura of the album, the guys not making any other unnecessary alterations as the original is pretty much flawless. The same goes for “Send Me an Angel”, another fine choice, made close to the original again, the great memorable chorus pulled off by Krull with panache and poignant lyricism.

The second half is almost as interesting the song selection maybe not as strong, “Tainted Love” being a march-like abraser Krull aptly assisting with a muffled synthesized timbre. “Der Mussolini” is a small revelation, a bouncy hypnotic, dark rocker which could have been a part of The Sisters of Mercy repertoire, also made by Coroner a few years earlier, surprisingly in a very similar fashion. The Human League cover of “Being Boiled” is sustained in the same nervy, hectic manner, a stomping officiant anthem with jarring, more aggressive guitars, the song here that is the closest to the band’s original antics of the past few years, with the following “Don’t Go” a close second being an undustrialized rendition, noisier than the original, with techno-beats incorporated more or less appropriately, but fitting its overall metallized character. Next comes David Bowie (R.I.P.) with “Let’s Dance”, a rigid and stodgy interpretation, the keyboard implementations too vociferous, the main plus being Krull’s warmer, more patiently drawn croons the man trying to stay more faithful to Bowie’s baroque-like baritone. And the “Maid of Orleans” for “dessert”, a lyrical melancholic ballad/semi-ballad, a suitable epitaph to this uneven, but enjoyable tribute with Kristine making another great, albeit ephemeral, showing.

It’s difficult to predict the next step of one of the most unpredictable acts on the metal circuit so an all-cover album shouldn’t have been such a big surprise provided that the Pandora’s Box of such attempts opened wide in the late-90’s with literally every metal practitioner trying their hands on various blasts from the past, more or less related to the metal industry. It’s always debatable how beneficial such an opus would be to the overall evolution of the genre, but if you’re a fan of any of those infectious hits from your childhood, for example, why not get it out of your system by reproducing them in your own way, perceived through your individualistic, “distorted” vision?

The band don’t play around too much with these pieces, and every single one of them would be easy to recognize even by those who’ve heard them just once or twice, and if you want my personal opinion, this should be the tendency. Yes, I do appreciate left-hand-path reproductions (think Nevermore’s take on Judas Priest’s “Love Bites”, or Rammstein’s “rape” of Depeche Mode’s “Stripped”) of evergreens, but then it becomes an entirely new song… a tribute is a tribute, for crying out loud, not reconstruction/restoration work.

The guys tried their hands on more favourite tunes ten years later on “Werk II”, to the same fairly decent results, and although I’m listening to the extraordinary “Todessensucht” right now, for the third time this week, I can’t wait to hear news about the third instalment’s appearance; and I’ll be furious if the Krull gang have missed out on ABBA’s “When All Is Said and Done”. It’s an 80’s hit, hey!

Atrocity is one of the most experimental metal bands of all times. From grindcore to symphonic metal and everything between, there isn't much left the band hasn't tried out in its long career. Even for such an eclectic band, ''Werk 80'' was a quite surprising release that got the band some minor mainstream success while more traditional extreme metal fans of the band's early years didn't dig the band's new experiment. ''Werk 80'' offers cover versions of national and international pop and rock songs of the eighties. The band's song selection turns out being as eclectic as the band itself and varies from international smash hits from David Bowie and Duran Duran to less known German underground tracks from And One and D.A.F. to only name a few examples. The band mostly used a cool, dark and low industrial rock and metal sound for their interpretations that would get some critical acclaim from the German alternative and gothic scene where new genres such as Neue Deutsche Härte in the key of Rammstein and Neue Deutsche Todeskunst in the vein of Das Ich were on the rise. ''Werk 80'' is dominated by low and almost emotionless vocals, simplistic and heavy riffs, minimalist keyboard patterns and an almost robotic rhythm section. Many songs actually sound like danceable march music with a martial vibe.

While this brave new approach sounds original on paper, the actual record is a hit-and-miss affair because the musical direction starts getting redundant after a while and the limited vocals are hard to digest despite some additional female and male vocalists who are occasionally adding some much-needed diversity and energy. Among the highlights, I would cite the almost mantra-like opener ''Shout'' even though it's a few minutes too long, the elegant symphonic version of ''The Great Commandment'', the simplistic rendition of ''Let's Dance'' and the elegiac closer ''Maid of Orleans'' that ends the record on a melancholic and thoughtful note. Other tracks are performed without any creative spirit, especially the German tunes such as the annoyingly aggressive ''Der Mussolini'', the one-dimensional industrial metal tune ''Das letzte Mal'', the plodding ''Die Deutschmaschine'' and the repetitive ''Verschwende deine Jugend''. Let's add that especially the German tracks feature somewhat controversial lyrics and a martial musical image that might be wrongfully interpreted as right-wing chic even though the band has nothing to do with national-socialist tendencies and even smashed a giant swastika on stage when some nazis attended their concerts in the past. The band probably chose these more controversial songs to provoke the masses even more. The cover artworks of this record and the different singles with a lot of sexual appeal only add to the fact that the band tried to shock more conservative minds.

Who might be interested in this kind of music nowadays? Industrial rock and metal fans with a weakness for pop and rock hits of the eighties should dig this record. Older members of the dark alternative scene could also dig this record that was quite original back then when cover albums weren't that popular yet. From a nostalgic point of view, I happen to find this album slightly above average despite its obvious flaws and give it a spin every now and then. Anyone who is looking for truly creative interpretations of classic material from the eighties, a skilled type of industrial rock or a hidden pearl from the dark alternative scene might find this release too repetitive and simplistic. The second part ''Werk 80 II'', released eleven years later is actually more creative, diversified and surprising. ''Werk 80'' has its moments and a very own atmosphere but is actually much ado about nothing.