Das Ich
Egodram
Face Down/Edel

It was nearly four years ago that Das Ich released their last regular studio album. Four years is a very long time in the music business, even though Das Ich wasn't sitting around doing nothing all these years. They produced a live album, did a joint venture album with the German metal band Altrocity and recorded a film soundtrack which sounds unlike any Das Ich recording. After all this it's surprising that the new album continues exactly where the last studio album, Staub left off.

While the first album Die Propheten was a classic example of the German gothic romanticism in the early nineties, the second album went into a noisier and more electronic direction. With the new album Das Ich have arrived in the field which could be described as industrial. They still use their share of orchestral instrumentation, but many electronic noises and rhythms characterize the sound now. The voice of singer Stefan Ackermann is taken back in the mix which is an improvement because the songs sound less theatrical this way.

The title track Egodram starts off close to their older material, calm and symphonic, until a heavily distorted drum part sets the tone for the rest of the album. The second track, Kindgott, also released on a single, is much faster and very rhythmic. It could be played in clubs on Saturday evenings. Firmament is somewhat slower, orchestral melodies with wicked drums. The next track, Destillat, is an electronic rocker with a straight beat, another one suited for dancing, almost a pop song.

The beginning of He Mensch reminds me of Einstürzende Neubauten, very dynamic - silence and noisy beats. You can hear guitar and flute, manipulated sounds and more. Again, a more musically conventional electronic track follows, dominated by responsory by singer Stefan and the rest of the band during the verse. The drum patterns are the main focus of the track Krieger while the melody and singing are rather monotonous.

Dorn is a slower instrumental interlude, a small rest before the distorted and un-harmonic start of Chroma. A pulsating beat runs all through the song. Reflex is a straight rocker in the style of Nine Inch Nails or the last Prodigy album. In Blutquell Das Ich set music to a poem by Charles Baudelaire. Stylistically it's a return to the quiet mode of their older records. On the very end there is the now obligatory "hidden track". The fun part is that they played around with the indexing of the CD so that the display of the CD player goes crazy. After all, this album is another step forward for Das Ich on their way to the top of the German electronic music scene. Check it out ...

Copyright © 1998 Lonely Locke