Der Kongress - ATTD Versions
Time to jump headfirst into a genre which we rarely review on Kalteldur, EBM. Second EBM-related review if you ask me. As I have mentioned before it does (sadly) seem to be a rare thing, that someone does EBM which has its focus on a certain... aesthetic? In my own rather isolated world, EBM doesn't always have to be dance music. I like the early cold-wave inspired sound from the Front 242 debut, the dark industrial harshness from the early Klinik and Vomito Negro, the atmospheric post-technoid feel of early FLA/Delirium etc. You know what I mean, early EBM with a dark soundtrack´ish feel and sound to it. Why all the drama? from waving hands, screaming distorted vocals, pumping and boring bass drums, tons of makeup, post-gothic look/clothes ordered from Amazon. Subtlety would be my word here, retain your coolness and do some cool sounding electronic music instead.
Nevertheless, I was lucky. After endlessly browsing various new-releases within the regime of EBM-music, I came upon this! The cover-art stuck out from the rest, and I liked the band name as well. And the very first 10 seconds, gave me the green lights for it. The very first track AT-System takes u back to Clock DVA (Hacker era) and A Split Second. Cold and stone-dry mechanized drum-patterns, electronic and metal sounding ritualistic percussions, deep and melodic synth-voices building tension, retro keyboard-based trumpets, ring-modulated sequencer loops gives it a cybernetic feel. All of this being wrapped into a kind of ... cool New-Beat sort of vibe. Second track and third track AT-Untitled and TD-Völmoverd move further into early techno and acid-house, giving in to that early FLA/Delirium and even Coil. Ambient-techno/house-drums, harsh acid-house patterns, mysterious and mesmerizing hypnotic moods works great here. Last track TD-Untitled being quite interesting and familiar at the same time. It sounds like the German-based Gerechtigkeits Liga´s Volkermord track from the Hypnotischer Existenzialismus from 1985? I actually think it is the same track, without those extra layers of tribal-sound which the original has. Could it be that this act has the same members from this classic industrial act?. I don´t know. The cassette release is good nonetheless, although I was kind of ...Suprised with the last track. Think I will investigate this, in the meantime. Give it a spin!...
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