Wumpscut

Another in the line of '90s goths who forsook guitars for the sampler and synthesizer, Rudy Ratzinger's :wumpscut: project was born in 1991 when Ratzinger released his first cassette-only albums, Defcon and Small Chambermusicians. Vuz Records signed the German to their fold by the following year, and after a release on a 1993 Vuz compilation (New Forms of Entertainment), the first :wumpscut: album, Music for a Slaughtering Tribe, appeared in December 1993. After the release of the Dried Blood EP on Ant-Zen Records in 1994, Ratzinger formed his own Beton Kopf Media label by 1995 and released both another EP and a full-length that year (Gomorrha and Bunkertor 7, respectively). After the appearance of :wumpscut: on the US compilation The Remix Wars -- alongside Haujobb -- the Metropolis label signed Ratzinger to an American deal and re-released the entirety of his work, followed by the new full-length Embryodead. Born Again followed in 1998, and two years later :wumpscut: returned with Bloodchild. The aggro-industrial tinged Wreath of Barbs illustrated Ratzinger's fondness for dance music's past and present when it was issued in fall 2001.

2005 - Evoke (2CD)

Wumpscut - 2005 - Evoke (2CD)

Rudy Ratzinger, recording as :wumpscut:, has always been a bit more adventurous than most of his Teutonic-industrial colleagues. While his music is reliably dark and heavy, with lots of pounding four-beats-to-the-bar rhythms and harsh, stage-whispered vocals, he's been known to throw the occasional funky curve ball as well. Evoke is true to form in both regards: in among the usual astringent electronic beats and the snarls of paranoid derision there are some surprising moments of lyrical, almost contemplative beauty, most of them provided courtesy of two credited but not really identified female singers: Clara S. and Jane M. Also interesting are "Churist Churist," a song written in an artificial language of Ratzinger's own invention, and the nicely crafted "Obsessio," written in what appears to be Catalan and sung by Clara S. The aptly titled "Breathe," an instrumental punctuated with the sound of harsh panting, is more disturbing than musically interesting, and the instrumental "Krolok" is simply boring. The album's title track, on the other hand, is musically engaging but lyrically tedious. The remixes that end the album are OK, but nothing terribly special. Overall, Evoke is a worthy addition to :wumpscut:'s impressive catalog; it would be a significant achievement for many of Ratzinger's labelmates, but doesn't rise significantly above the high standard of innovation and musicianship that Ratzinger has set for himself previously.

		1		Maiden	R.	5:14
		2		Churist Churist	R.	3:46
		3		Don't Go	R.	4:30
		4		Evoke	R.	5:31
		5		Tomb	R.	5:31
		6		Hold	R.	4:58
		7		Krolok	R.	4:37
		8		Breathe	R.	3:26
		9		Rush	R.	4:44
		10		Perdition	R.	4:40
		11		Obessio	S.	4:42
		12		Churist Churist [*]	R.	4:42
		13		Maiden [*]	R.	4:31

¡Aquí!

Haujobb - 2003 - Vertical Theory

The best industrial bands, if they're commercially successful enough to stay in business long enough, eventually learn how to relax a bit and let themselves expand beyond the stylistic strictures of industrial's four-on-the-floor jackboot beats and Teutonic yelling. Vertical Theory marks Haujobb's tenth anniversary as a band and demonstrates that they have achieved that kind of maturity, a level of skill and self-confidence that allows them to explore everything from dubbed-out EBM to trancy dance music and a strange sort of ambient industrial. There is a nice variety of beats, sometimes within a single tune -- thudding house rhythms will suddenly give way to a funky breakbeat, and then back again. "Renegades of Noize" is an auspicious opener, combining a digital but warm and complex rhythmic texture with an almost melodic vocal line. "Noise Institute" starts off with a subtly jungly beat before lapsing into something a bit more gruff and housy; the dub-inflected "Slide" starts off in a cool industrial mode but eventually gets monotonous over the course of its six-minute length. What these songs are all missing, as usual, is anything approaching a real melody. That doesn't have to be a fatal flaw, if the beats and textures are interesting enough, and often they are on this album. But not always.

		1		Renegades of Noize	Myer, Samardzic	5:04
		2		S.adow	Myer, Samardzic	4:30
		3		The Noise Institute	Myer, Samardzic	3:43
		4		A Terrifying Truth	Myer, Samardzic	5:28
		5		Metric	Myer, Samardzic	5:05
		6		Concrete	Myer, Samardzic	5:03
		7		Slide	Myer, Samardzic	5:59
		8		Platform	Myer, Samardzic	5:10
		9		Claim the Planet	Myer, Samardzic	4:12
		10		Faith in Chaos	Myer, Samardzic	5:54
		11		Penetration (Fuck the Floor)	Myer, Samardzic	4:50

¡Aquí!