My Top Albums of 2020

You know those old sticks in the mud who complain that all new music sucks? Yeah, they can shut right up. Finding new music that you like is easier than it ever has been, thanks to the internet. And yet you still have people listening to the same twenty songs over and over on their classic rock radio stations. You have to put a little effort in to find the good stuff these days (as I said though, a lot less effort than you would have 15 years ago or earlier), but it’s there. If your complaint is that a genre that was popular in past decades isn’t popular anymore or is apparently “dead”, I guarantee you, if you look hard enough you’ll find some band, somewhere in the world, playing that genre. And, although this is somewhat beside the point, you can always dig up older music that never made it to the radio too, and listen to that. I’ve discovered tons of great obscure early 1980s New Wave in just the past few years, for example.

2020 was a horrible year. I have written extensively on this topic on the blog already, I needn’t repeat myself here. Despite being an objectively awful year, there were a few minor bright spots that made the world just a little bit less miserable. For me, a big one was the music that came out this year. It seemed like I was discovering great new music left and right. I couldn’t always give each band the individual attention it deserved because I kept finding more and more new music. What happened a lot this year actually, was a band would release a new album after having been around for years, promote it through the podcasts and YouTube channels I listen to, and that would be the first I had ever heard of the band, leaving me with robust discographies to get through. Another thing I have been seeing more lately is bands releasing prolific amounts of music in the form of singles or short albums of about four tracks or so. I wonder if the “release a new album with around ten songs every 2-5 years” model is slowly going away in the modern music scene. I’m seeing more and more bands release singles every month or two. I would never have been this inundated with new music back when you had to peruse record stores for CDs and hope the album was as good as its cover art. I will likely be discovering music that came out this year for many years to come. That always happens; a few years from now I will discover a song that was released in 2020 and wish I had heard it when it came out. However, 2020 was a rough year especially for the underground kinds of bands I listen to, because sadly touring was rendered impossible starting in March. So it became even more important to buy music from the bands you like to support them. On the plus side though this likely gave a lot of them time to record new music, and livestream concerts became more widespread too. 

The only physical releases I bought this year were cassettes, ironically. I didn’t buy any new albums on CDs. Otherwise I bought digital albums and then burned the MP3s onto blank CDs. Vinyl records are too pricy for me. This all would have seemed really strange just ten years ago. But, these are my 13 favorite albums and EPs I was aware of during the actual year, in no particular order and adhering to no one particular genre (although given my musical tastes, this is mainly going to be post-punk/coldwave/darkwave/dark alternative, anything goth).

Slow Danse With the Dead - SDWTD

Slow Danse With the Dead was apparently very prolific both this year and last year. I initially thought their album SDWTD was their debut, because it is self-titled and this album was the first I heard from them, but no, as you can see by their Bandcamp, it was not. Although the project was formerly known as The Endless, which might explain it. I have discussed this one-man band from New Mexico on several occasions on this blog, and it was one of my favorite  newly-discovered bands this year. 2020 was the perfect time to release such sarcastically miserable tracks like “So Obnoxious” (which cautions the listener about being overly optimistic) and “Awaiting My Death” (which is self explanatory) although there’s a touch of humor and irony to the tracks. I ended up purchasing the album on cassette last summer. The band has had five releases just since then, although mainly singles. Seems there’s new music every month. I can’t think of another musician that releases music this often, since I’ve known of them.  “I Look Like Death” was the other full length album I purchased from them this year, which is almost a continuation of this album, and worth checking out too. As all their music is. 

Favorite Tracks: “So Obnoxious”, “I Tried to be the Nice Guy”

https://slowdansewiththedead.bandcamp.com/album/sdwtd-2

Minuit Machine - Don’t Run from the Fire

Minuit Machine is a French coldwave group helmed by Helene de Thoury, who is also in Hante. This release is gripping and darkly intense, with themes of fear and facing that fear. A perfect soundtrack for this year. I have discussed this album on the blog before. It is only four tracks, but they are really good ones. There are albums out there with more than ten tracks that still don’t come anywhere near this intensity. It may only be four tracks but it feels longer. 

Favorite Tracks: “Don’t Run from the Fire”, “To Control”

https://minuitmachine.bandcamp.com/album/dont-run-from-the-fire

ЭЛЕКТРОЦОЙ - Ностальгия

Electrotsoy is a Russian post-punk band from the city of Arkhangelsk. The album title translates to “Nostalgia”, and this was their debut EP. My Russian isn’t that good at all so I couldn’t find out a lot about the band, but the music is right up my alley, being low energy, melancholic yet soothing, at times almost dreamlike. I would compare them to a Russian version of The Cure, but with female vocals. It taps into a longing nostalgia for brighter days, which I imagine is a common sentiment throughout the former Soviet Union. Google Translate was my friend in deciphering the song titles. I first encountered the band on a Russian Doomer Music playlist on YouTube, although they’re not very “doomer”, really. This would appear to be their debut album if their Bandcamp is anything to go by. There are only four tracks, but they’re quite good in my opinion. Hoping to hear more from them soon.

Favorite Tracks: “Вечно”, “Мечты”

https://electrotsoy.bandcamp.com/album/-

Selofan - Partners in Hell

Selofan was another great darkwave band I discovered this year, although they have been around for a few years already. I love the country of Greece so it is exciting to hear my type of music coming from there. This new album came out after I had only known of the band for less than a year, adding more fuel to the fire as I gradually worked my way through their discography. Each song off this album was another treat. Even though they’re Greek they sometimes sing in German too, such as in the haunting track “Zusammen”, among others. “Absolutely Absent” was my favorite track on the album, since it kind of hit close to home for me back in October and I found it rather relatable. 

Favorite Tracks: “Absolutely Absent”, “Almost Nothing”

https://selofan.bandcamp.com/album/partners-in-hell

Tearful Moon - Under the Red Veil

Disclaimer (2/4/2021): For the vast majority of the bands I listen to, I know little to nothing about the band members personally. I just enjoy the music for what it is, I don’t think about what their political opinions are. I would rather not know their political opinions, really. Not everyone is going to have my specific worldview, and if I only listened to music whose creators did, maybe I would have a very small pool of music to choose from. But it’s recently come to my attention that the members of Tearful Moon harbor some very extreme far-right viewpoints, which I do not agree with, that are harmful to others, and they’ve been publicly expressing those viewpoints using their platform. It’s a complicated issue for some people separating the art from the artist. And they do create good music. I mean for example, John Kricfalusi created Ren & Stimpy, one of my favorite cartoons growing up and a big influence on my art, and yet he was a rapist. I can’t just cut that piece of my past out of my life so easily, but I don’t want to support that kind of behavior either. So my solution in this case is I am going to leave this review here just for posterity, because it WAS an album I bought and enjoyed in 2020, but with this disclaimer. Their viewpoints do not reflect my own. I just hope the band members will one day start to see the bigger picture and change their worldview. 

This album came out right around the time I first discovered Tearful Moon, in April, so I experienced it at the same time I experienced their earlier albums in their discography, making it a bit difficult to separate in my mind. But, after I purchased the digital album and burned it on a blank CD, I got to listen to it properly. The songs flow together well. And what a racy album cover, hope I don’t get in trouble sharing that. Gives the phrase “eyes up here” a new twist; you can both stare at her chest and be making eye contact! Ahem, back on topic. True to Tearful Moon’s style in the past, the songs are almost like poems set to music. I know you could technically say that about all bands that have lyrics in their music, but somehow the songs remind me more of poems than songs sometimes. I could imagine finding these lyrics in a poetry book. I like that about this band. Similar in style to bands like SYZYGYX, Selofan and Lebanon Hanover who also use low, droning and sometimes echoing female vocals, the singer still manages to carry a rhythm and be unconventionally catchy. Even if they are a little similar to the bands I mentioned I wouldn’t confuse a Tearful Moon song with a song from any other band. My favorite song on the album has to be “I Love You More than Death”, both for its catchy rhythm and its shocking and kind of funny lyrics, being from the point of view if someone who loves you more than literally anything, wants you to make them their wife, take them to bed and have their child. You don’t hear a song like that everyday. 

Favorite Tracks: “I Love You More than Death”, “The Lost King”

Velvet Kills - Bohdi Labyrinth

Velvet Kills is a band out of Portugal. After hearing the track “The Key” on one of the many YouTube music channels I am subscribed to, I had to check this band out. “The Key” is the catchiest and most upbeat song on the album, and is still my favorite, but the rest of the tracks are also great. My second favorite is the opening track “Bitch Face”. Fun title, isn’t it? If you look at the Bandcamp page for the album all the tracks have a deeper meaning and interconnect, it’s actually kind of a concept album. I recommend checking this one out. 

Favorite Tracks: “The Key”, “Bitch Face”

https://velvetkills.bandcamp.com/album/bodhi-labyrinth

Forever Grey - Departed

Forever Grey is among my favorite bands I found out about this year, and I mainly found out about them through the promotion for this album back in March. “Lost in a Moment” was the song that grabbed me when I first heard it, and I had to hear more. As I toured their discography, their 2016 album “Alabaster Chamber” turned out to be my favorite album due to the songs “The Style is Death” and “Cathedral of Hailstone”, but this album is still really good too and worth hearing. 

Favorite tracks: “Lost in a Moment”, “Labour of Death”

https://forevergrey.bandcamp.com/album/departed

Kalte Nacht

Kalte Nacht is another Greek minimal synth band that emerged earlier this year with this self-titled debut. I picked it up after hearing “Humans Are Mistakes”. The rest of the songs were just as good, with dark and twisted synths paired with low, echoing female vocals. Their sound reminds me a lot of their fellow Greek band Selofan, but they also have a uniqueness to their music. Songs like “Inmost Desire” and “Voices in Silence” are up-tempo and danceable, while there are plenty of slow and brooding tracks like “Ghost Dance” and “ Humans are Mistakes” too. There’s a variety. As a debut release this shows a lot of promise, and I eagerly await whatever Kalte Nacht releases next. 

Favorite Tracks: “Humans Are Mistakes”, “Ghost Dance”

https://kaltenacht.bandcamp.com/releases

Molchat Doma - Monument

I have been listening to this band out of Belarus quite a lot in the past couple of months. They fall under the same umbrella as a lot of the bands in the Russian post-punk scene, which has been my focus lately. Given that I haven’t known this band for very long, such as with Tearful Moon earlier in the year, I am experiencing their newest album at the same time as their earlier music. I quite enjoy their 2018 album “Etazhi”, maybe even a bit better than this album, but they both seem equally as new to me, I enjoy this band’s aesthetic, and it’s one that seems to be catching on and creating its own little sub genre. Their album covers and music videos feature decaying Soviet buildings and monuments, and it almost seems like a good soundtrack for Chernobyl. Molchat Doma has been a gateway drug for me into Russian post-punk, and I thank them for that. 

Favorite Tracks: “Zvezdy”, “Utonut”

https://domamolchat.bandcamp.com/album/monument

Lebanon Hanover - Sci-Fi Sky

This album was highly anticipated among fans of darkwave and post-punk. Just when the global pandemic  really started to kick in last spring, they released their single from this album “The Last Thing” with a music video in which they performed a concert next to the prestigious venue of a dumpster in a back alley, which despite being a really bleak and kind of terrifying song about someone’s thoughts during their last living moments, cheered everyone up somehow. We had to wait until late October for the full album though, but it didn’t disappoint. It is a perfect 2020 album. You almost wonder if they recorded some of these songs before or after the pandemic hit, but there’s no way they could all be that recently written.

Favorite Tracks: “The Last Thing”, “Living on the Edge”

https://lebanonhanover.bandcamp.com/album/sci-fi-sky

Into Grey - Picture Perfect

This album snuck in right at the end of the year, having been released on December 6th, making me glad I held off on posting this blog entry for a while (I started writing this in late November). I first saw the track “Shadows” shared on the YouTube channel Sounds in the Distance, one of my sources for new music, and I liked it. Couple days later I heard the track “Dissociate” on the YouTube channel George in the Darkness, and I realized this must have been an album that just released and these channels are helping promote it. I checked it out on Bandcamp, and it’s name your price so I had no excuse not to buy it. And I like all the tracks on it. And that is a typical story of how I discovered new music this year. This isn’t even their debut album either. By the looks of it they’re another one of those bands that’s been prolifically releasing a new music almost every month this year. I have a lot of music to get through. Into Grey joins the ranks of Cabaret Grey and Forever Grey as grey-themed goth bands I like. Grey is the new black. They should all go on tour together when the pandemic is over. The Grey Tour. 

For an album called Picture Perfect, sure is an odd choice for album cover though. 

Favorite Tracks: “Shadows”, “Dissociate”

https://intogrey.bandcamp.com/album/picture-perfect

OR3O - Clover

Alright, here’s my one non-goth album from 2020 that I liked, an electro-swing concept album by singer and animator OR3O (is it pronounced “oreo” or “or-thirty”?) This is a rather unorthodox pick, as it hasn’t been released physically or as a digital album to my knowledge, at least not yet, and the album in its entirety hasn’t been completely released yet, and will likely be completed in 2021. The songs are accompanied by animated music videos, done in a 1930s animation style. The story behind the album is that a young girl named Kel has fallen into depression with the death if her grandfather. She is visited by three ghosts from the past who tell her their life stories and try to impart their wisdom on her. Each song is unique, in a modern swing style. I’ve long liked this type of music, when I’m in the mood for it. As a cartoonist myself I enjoy this album on two different levels, due to the animated music videos. It’s worth checking out.

Favorite Tracks: “Still Dancing”, “100 Years”

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAdwl9xZlNTB4pHCmi81eG2U_CB93Q5eF

Mortiis - Spirit of Rebellion

And now to round off the list with another album I got on cassette, Mortiis’ Spirit of Rebellion (the one on the right; I’m trying to reuse my pictures on Blogger). It was a return to form for Mortiis as it showcases the same atmospheric, dark ambient musical style as his albums from the 1990s, a genre since dubbed Dungeon Synth. I purchased this album at a concert in Tampa back in late January; incidentally the only concert I was able to attend this entire year, just a month or so before everything hit the fan. 

It’s a genre you either like or you don’t. For me, it’s good background music to put on when doing something else like working on art or writing. You could meditate to it as well, and it will bring to mind images of dusty old Nordic castles and towering fjords, creepy old wizards and medieval dark lords in black armor. Things like that. I have to be in the right mood for it. It’s nothing like my favorite Mortiis album The Smell of Rain. But, Mortiis is quite varied. 

Since the album consists of only three tracks, two of them longer than 20 minutes, let’s just say I enjoyed the whole album. 

https://mortiis.bandcamp.com/album/spirit-of-rebellion

Mixtape Reflections – WelTraum – Empty Space and Գոյություն

 

 

Mixtape Reflections – WelTraum – Empty Space and Գոյություն

 

“At night, your vision of the universe is not obscured by the sun, and you can see the universe as it truly is. A black void filled with distant stars, too distant for us to ever reach within our brief lifespans, which we view from a minuscule blue speck. This frightens some people, whether they realize it frightens them or not. They stay indoors with their electronic devices, make sure their streets are well lit, and that their cities cause enough light pollution to block out their view of the universe, and avoid the uncomfortable truth. A lot of people don’t like to truly think about it.”

-          Me, being all goth on Facebook

 

Last year I started a series of mixtapes that include songs that make me think about questions of existence and the universe, in one way or another. The tapes are called WelTraum. The word Weltraum is German for “universe”, literally “world space”. But the interesting thing about it is it includes the word “traum”, German for “Dream”. Is our universe a merely dream? A simulation? Hence the spelling “WelTraum”. The first tape was subtitled “Empty Space”, for a few reasons. Firstly, it is the name of the opening track, “Empty Space” by Hante. But, the tape begins with a voice clip from the film The Adventures of Mark Twain, at the end of the segment covering “The Mysterious Stranger”. Satan says “Life itself is only a vision. A dream. Nothing exists save empty space, and you. And you, are but a thought.” After this it segues into the opening track. This presents the very thesis of these mixtapes; existential nihilism and solipsism. The name brings to mind the sometimes enormous voids between galaxies in the universe, such as the Bootes Void. The rest of the tracks vary some by theme but not as much by feel, generally sticking to a dark coldwave genre. The final song, “Sparkles and Wine” by Opale, is one of my all-time favorite songs, a song that feels like a psychedelic trance.

 

This year I made the second tape in the series, titled “Գոյություն“ (Go-yoo-tyoon), the Armenian word for existence. This tape ponders the very nature of our existence, filled with songs about existentialism and the universe at large. The opening track, “Ոչինչ“ (Voh-cheench) by The Deenjes (an Armenian electronic group), is the Armenian word for “nothing”. Next, we have “Existence” by Buzz Kull, as a counterpoint, contrasting from nothingness and existence. The tape has a similar feel to the previous tape, with even more space-themed songs. Quite a few are songs I’ve discussed on the blog before. The last song, “Back to the Stars” by Vitas, is kind of on there as a joke, but it has to do with space so hey, why not?

 

I tried to reproduce the mixtapes on Spotify for all to hear. As usual they were missing a lot of stuff (Side A of the first tape takes a big hit, and the absence of The Deenjes was particularly troubling), but I got a nearly 3 hour playlist out of the three and a half hour combined length of the two mixtapes, so not bad overall. With a meditative couple of tapes like this though, if you find yourself wanting to reproduce this mix you’re better off making your own CD mix or mixtape, sitting back, closing your eyes and doing a deep listen. Spotify has too many ads. Unless you’re rich and pay for ad-free Spotify, I guess.

 

WelTraum – Spotify Playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/64gU8Q006r82MtLakDR6gZ

 

WelTraum – Empty Space

Side A

1.       Hante – Empty Space

2.       Noir for Rachel – Outdoor Hands

3.       Cold Kill – We Believe

4.       KINO – Spokonaya Noch

5.       Grey Gallows – She Ends Herself

6.       Diary of Dreams – Soul Stripper

7.       The Deenjes – Թող ու Կնա

8.       Opale – Sleepless

9.       Hord – Lrn

10.   Hante – Waiting for a Hurricane

11.   Spiritual Sky – Ecoutez et Repetez

12.   The Kovenant – Star by Star

13.   Boy Harsher - Fate

14.   Opale – Hedoniste

Side B

15.   Kalax – The Ride (into the Midnight)

16.   The Midnight – Shadows

17.   Boy Harsher – Face the Fire

18.   Glaare – First Rain

19.   Hante – Live to Die Another Day

20.   Hord – Speak

21.   Brotherhood – Reasons

22.   Buzz Kull – Ode to Hate

23.   Kill Shelter w. Hante – Kiss Me Goodbye

24.   Diary of Dreams – A Dark Embrace

25.   Holygram – Acceleration

26.   The Midnight – Nocturnal

27.   Opale – Sparkles and Wine

 

WelTraum – Գոյություն

Side A

1.       The Deenjes – Ոչինչ

2.       Buzz Kull – Existence

3.       Lebanon Hanover – Avalanche

4.       SYZYGYX – In Pieces

5.       Tearful Moon – The Stars Have Fallen and Died

6.       Kraftwerk – Hall of Mirrors

7.       Endless Forms – Rope to the Cosmos

8.       La Scaltra – Astral Kiss

9.       Forever Grey – Lost in a Moment

10.   Svetlana Mart -  Moon Eclipsed the Sun

 

Side B

11.   Velvet Acid Christ – Futile

12.   Shad Shadows - Cosmic

13.   Hord – Bodies #16

14.   Sara Stuttgart - Vortex

15.   Lebanon Hanover – Northern Lights

16.   Forever Grey – The Style is Death

17.   Kalte Nacht – Humans Are Mistakes

18.   The Frozen Autumn – Is Everything Real?

19.   Vitas – Back to the Stars

 

Das Ich - Lava - Day 6 of 10 Albums that Changed my Life

Das Ich – Lava

Genre: Dark Electro

Year: 2004

Year I discovered it: 2005

I have an interesting story on how I discovered Das Ich. I used to get all my new music from Rasputin Records at Pleasant Hill, California, and someone accidentally put this album in the metal section. It was early 2005 and there was no YouTube yet, so I had no way of knowing what I was getting when I bought an album, I just had to go off whether or not the cover caught my attention. See kiddos back in them days, before we had all this Pandora and Spotify malarkey, we had to rummage through record stores, find a CD with a cool cover, band name and song titles, and just hope the CD sounded as good as it looked. Believe me, I bought a few albums that looked like they were going to be awesome but then sucked. But you could usually depend on whatever you picked being in the correct genre! At least until some foolish employee who knows nothing about underground music makes a mistake like putting Das Ich in the metal section. So I saw the CD and it was in German, had a bunch of bald guys covered in red paint on the cover, and as an extra selling point, had a sticker on the front which extolled the virtues of the CD with a positive review. I still have the sticker on the case today. “Featuring twelve mind-blowing tracks of classical orchestration mingled with dark electronics and Stefan Ackermann’s growling vocals, Lava will quickly earn a place in the hearts of fans of dark electro.” So, this was going to be kind of like German Dimmu Borgir, right? Or at least German The Kovenant, like black metal with orchestral backgrounds and some synths? What’s “dark electro”?

When I first put Lava in my CD player, I was baffled at the lack of guitars in the very electronic opening of the first track, “Uterus”, but as I continued to listen, I started to like it. I suppose this was the beginning of the end of my metal phase, as this album became a gateway into darkwave, EBM, synthpop and Industrial (a transition which as mentioned earlier had already been set up by Mortiis' The Smell of Rain and even earlier with Kraftwerk). The singing on this album is smooth and fast, almost like German rap, but in a raspy voice. The music though is what really makes this album a timeless classic in my eyes. It’s just so damn good. The energy of this album flows like lava and crystallizes. Like the Lava Reef Zone in Sonic & Knuckles, if you know what I’m on about. I had never really heard anything quite like it at the time. It can be catchy and danceable, it can be dark and brooding, but it maintains this smooth, beautiful melodic energy throughout.

            “Uterus” is the kind of song you could dance to at a gothic night club, like The Castle in Ybor City, Florida. As I listen to this track again, I can see myself relaxing on one of their comfy sofas in the back, bobbing my head to the beat while smoking a tasty vape and watching the attractive go-go dancers go about their dances in their sexy devil costumes. It’s a song you could either dance or relax to. “Fieber” is less ambiguous as a danceable track. “Träum mit mir” (“dream with me” in English) almost sounds like “toy mit mir”, which I always found amusing for some reason. I listened to this song enough times that I can actually sing along with the fast-paced German, even if I don’t know what every word means. 

            The energy slows down with “Meine Weige”, creeping along like one of those slow but unstoppable lava flows you see in Hawaii. It’s a song that deals in opposites. “Liebe hass, gut und böse”, “tag nacht, warm und kalt”, “gelb, rot, schwarz und weiss”. It’s a good song for someone learning German. After this relaxing song, the energy picks up again in “Schwarzer Stern” (“Black Star”), which is an awesome name and one I’ve swiped for a mix tape title. I always thought they were saying the name of their band throughout the song, but looking at the lyric book they’re actually saying “dass ich”, but it’s emphasized each time they say it. “Ich reite auf dem Schwarzer stern” translates to “I ride on the black star”, which is just an awesome lyric.  The energy keeps up through the next track, “Vulkan” (“Volcano”), an appropriate song title for the album, fits right in with the theme. “Mein kuss ist ein Vulkan” translates to “My kiss is a volcano”, so he must be one heck of a kisser. The singer also repeats “Ich will deine seele,” which means “I want your soul”. What does he want that for, I wonder? Sounds a bit threatening.

            “Sehnsucht” is slower, and a haunting track. No relation to the Rammstein song of the same name of course. It brings to my mind visions of a scorched landscape after a volcanic eruption, with a slow-moving wall of lava engulfing everything. “Sehnsucht” is a really cool word by the way. It roughly translates to “longing”, but there’s a little something extra to the word that English can’t capture. Like “longing”, but much deeper. There’s a reason more than one German band has a song with this title, let’s just say. The next song, “Seele Tanzt”, is a good song in its own right, but perhaps due to the misfortune of being placed on the album after “Schwarzer Stern” comes off as an inferior version of that song in some ways, because it has a very similar sound to it, but I don’t like it as much. A wannabe. It sounds like he keeps yelling “LET ME THROUGH!” for the whole song. I could look up the lyrics and see what he’s really saying in German, but eh, why spoil it after all these years? Maybe it’s a song about road rage. The next song, “Tot Im Kopf” (“Dead in Head”) is another song that never made much of an impact on me. It would work well on its own on a mix tape or playlist, but is overshadowed by the other songs on this album. That seems to be a common problem on albums that end up with more than 10 songs. Even Ministry’s With Sympathy kind of has this problem. 

            The title track “Lava”, however, is distinctive enough to be in its own league. This is one of the tracks with background orchestration. I know he’s not singing about this, but when I listen to this song a music video plays in my head of a ninja in ancient Japan sneaking around and kicking some ass. Like this would be good background music for a video game about ninjas. Like Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven or Revenge of Shinobi, something like that. I don’t know. I should probably translate the lyrics and see what the song’s really about after all these years. It’s probably about walls of slowly advancing lava destroying a town or something. And after this song we have “Urkraft”, the darkest song on the album. This song sounds like the apocalypse, with its dark orchestration. Like a vision of how devastated the world must have looked after the asteroid hit 65 million years ago, throwing ash into the atmosphere and blocking the sun out for years causing an eternal winter and setting off volcanic eruptions all over the world, and killing the poor dinosaurs. This is a scary song to meditate to. Which is why you should try it sometime.

            As with The Smell of Rain, my copy of this album ends with some remixes. They’re actually good remixes though. I wouldn’t say better than the originals, but still good. We have the Asche Remix of “Sehnsucht” (apparently there’s an alternate version of this album called Lava: Asche where instead of red paint the band members are in yellow paint and every song is a remix. I still don’t have this version.) It’s more upbeat than the original, and a worthy remix. The next song is “Vulkan” as reinterpreted by the band Wumpscut. This one’s a bit weird, I don’t really like it that much. But I guess I don’t hate it either. I just don’t usually listen to it when I put this album on. Meh.

Anyway, after having my musical tastes permanently altered by this album, I sought out other Das Ich albums. I have most of them now. I’ve been waiting since 2006 for them to come out with a new album that isn’t just a “Best of” collection. Sadly, as with The Kovenant and Kraftwerk, I’m still waiting. The band still tours though. I even got to see them live at The Orpheum in Ybor City on July 3rd 2018. That has to have been one of the best concerts I’ve been to. Stephen Ackermann and Bruno Kramm are quite spry and agile for their ages. If you want to see it for yourselves, I’ll embed one of their concerts here. This isn’t THE concert I was at, but it’s a concert from a few days earlier. So this is very similar to the concert I was at.