Jugendwerkhof - Mernscharmierung
I have reviewed Jugendwerkhof a couple of times before, they have even been included as one of the top releases of 2021! And of course, I wanted to review another one of their releases. This one came out in the same period as the former Leibinfamie CD album (read former review), released as a limited 20 copies cassette on the Spanish cult label Marbre Negre.
Again, I really dig the cover artwork for this one. Raw and simple artwork/photo showing a crumpling female statue of some kind, with a kind of decayed industrial design in the background. All in a sort of pale and brownish color. Sadly there isn´t anything more to look at if you open the inner sleeve of the cassette, some info about the titles of the 4 tracks and some contact info for the label. All 4 tracks on the album have been called Menscharmierung I, II, III, and IV.
The first track starts with a metallic grinding sound with a thick and humming death-industrial bass drone in the background. An extra layer of chaotic distortion is added to the mix, giving the track a big dynamic space to be in. Extra dynamics are added to the track. Some of the sounds sound close to the listener's ears while seconds later they move away into the distance. A passive and aggressive track, offering something both for the fans of Japanoise (Incapacitants), early industrial, and power electronics (Mauthausen Orchestra).
The second track has a cool and thumping machine bass sound with some distortion on top of it. Takes me back to Brighter Death Now´s I Hate You track. My kind of noise-tea if you please. Extra and painful layers of sound are being added to the lovely smörgåsbord. A more in-your-face aggressive treat than the former track. There are some cool sounds going on, not sure if they are vocal-related. Whatever it is, it is distorted and warped beyond human recognition. There is almost a kind of spiritual and paranormal activity going on here!
After a staggering (and punishing) 16:49 of the second track, the third track starts. More of a downbeat and noisy dark-ambient kind of a start. In the vein of Flutwacht, just a bit more violent. Impaling sounds of noise penetrate the listener while shredding pieces of flying metal shred the skin. It a more of a vortex of sound, sucking the listener deeper into the album. Lots of thoughtful stuff here! The vocal elements are soo good here, bits of painful human voices that can be seen and heard through the metallic chaos.
The last track continues the harsh and relentless mix of industrial power electronics and harsh noise. Incredible brutal and incredible jaw-dropping in the expression. One thing I love about Jugendwerkhof is, that u get what you see. Their sound perfectly describes the cover artwork and vice-versa. The last track might just be the most brutal track on the album, which is hard to imagine considering the other tracks!
In my book, Jugendwerkhof is the best harsh-noise unit in Europe. Forget Macronymphia and Japanoise-wannabees, these guys are the real shit! Connect all the dots if you please. Harsh noise for the fans of power electronics, and power electronics for the fans of harsh noise.
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