Die Liebe

Yep, not many are the acts here for whom the “various” tag could be rightfully displayed in the genre description. Alex Krull has taken his offspring through so many metamorphoses that even he may be at a loss if he has to adequately label his stylistic wanderings. There’s certainly nothing wrong when you try multiple things during your artistic career; after all, creative audacity and outside-the-box thinking should always be encouraged and applauded.

Sure thing, and thumbs up for those who dare, but in this particular case the daring seems to lack focus and logic, with Krull seldom holding onto the same approach for at least a second consecutive outing… save for the gorgeous double he smacked in the early-90’s, when it looked like the band would easily conquer the tech-death metal realm, in their homeland and worldwide. Cause there was by all means more room to squeeze this fabulous formula some more… and keep classic metal floating for a couple more years.

Only if the numetal vogues weren’t beckoning so irresistibly. “Blut” was a sinful, literally, act, following after some of the finest moments in metal history; such a blatantly shameful surrender to the sterile groovy trend that I would be surprised if the band had managed to preserve even a dozen of their old fanbase afterwards. But it was all about experimentation during those uncertain metamorphic 90’s, Krull bringing his sister Yasmin for the non-metallic ethno/acoustic saga “Calling the Rain”, later voting to improve on the terrible formula from “Blut” by adding more brutal death metal-ish nuances on the better albeit still divisive “Willenskraft”.

The album reviewed here is another flirtatious experiment with the modern sounds, and is the most successful one of the lot. It’s by no means a masterpiece, but at least it has some added gravity to it, the latter also brought by the collaboration participants Das Ich, an up-and-coming duo in the gothic/dark wave field. So yes, this is largely industrial/metal, the title-track bringing another legend from the industrial roster to the fore, the Slovenian pioneers Laibach, this cover made more confrontational and angrier to suit the more militant tone of the album. The material that tries to match this piece’s mechanical dry vibe is the stiff robotic “Moonstruck”, the seriously misdirected remastered version of “Misdirected” from “Blut”, made even more cumbersome and inflexible than the original; and the more dynamic but equally machine-like-sounding “Trial by Ordeal”. The remainder has the Das Ich signature underneath and exudes bigger intrigue, the brooding gothic march “Unschuld” the most effective entry here, its dark subversive currents supported by the more operatic doomy “Bloodlust (Undead Trance)” and the surprisingly uplifting sing-alonger “Die Todgeweihten” at the end… please brace yourselves for a most outrageously brutal grindy epitaph to this otherwise peaceful number.

Yep, the very closure of the album isn't a very pleasant one at all, but there are other short insertions before it that don't add up to much, like the annoying non-music tractate “Von Leid Und Elend Und Seelenqualen”, and the protracted dirgy tribute to Godflesh “Parentalia”. Krull stays firmly on modern soil here, with both feet, an already fully-converted soldier in the groove/industrial army, feeling relatively comfortable in the company of his colleagues from the mentioned formation. The latter’s presence surely serves the better moments from this opus, and one might wish their involvement had been bigger. But if Krull’s purpose was to give his share to the burgeoning at the time industrial movement then he did accomplish this mission, spicing his numetal tactics with swathes of dark gothicisms, a somewhat awkward if not fully off-putting blend, which didn’t help him conquer this same field, but at least showed him as a decent practitioner who might as well find a place under its cold dystopian sun.

Only that he had no intentions on treading in the same niche for too long. His hip-hopping journey around the music spectre continued unabated, with covers-only (the “Werk”’s) compilations, more commercially-viable dance/industrial pageants (“Gemini”), convoluted symphonic sagas (“Atlantis”), extreme prog-metal odysseys (“the “Okkult” double)... by no means the most unpardonable career trajectory in history, but hardly the most evolutionary quantum leap witnessed. Well, at least you know that the element of surprise will always be there… with Krull in play there’d hardly be too many dull moments, with the tangible possibility for the concoction of some truly visionary hallucinations when you least expect it.