Die Krupps
V - Metal Machine Music
SPV/Steamhammer
2015
Let’s be quite honest, Jurgen Engler might have been doing this since forever and maybe he even gave a chance to some fledging early pre-Die Toten Hosen formation to tour with his pre-Krupps band, but he never managed to outdo them commercially in later times. In fact, unless a rocker is into EBM/Industrial he might have only have heard of the band’s name because of their Metallica covers EP, itself is a mediocre attempt or the occasional charting song “To the Hilt”, “Fatherland”… other than that the band has been steadily going on with variable line-ups through the years changing their style depending on what Engler was trying to achieve. In the meantime, bands like Rob Zombie, Ministry, Rammstein etc. have managed to eclipse Die Krupps, despite their history, in the crossover electronic/metal scene, while also pure EBM bands have also fared better in the given genre.
“V” is obviously the fifth in a series of enumerated albums (despite 4, never receiving a number upon release) that the band has and contains some harder sounds and some fierce sounding analogue synths that make certain moments sound very 90s in conjunction with the phat, dump riffing. Apparently a couple of ideas have even been conveyed in the late 80s, according to Engler and indeed their stylistic differences are telling ie “Alive in A Glass Cage” even dates back to 1985 and was written at the same time as the original version of “Fatherland”. “The Vampire Strikes Back” was penned after the “Paradise Now” album and featured – in a slightly tamer version – in the video game “Wing Commander: Prophecy” in 1998”. Still in a world and a genre where production is “king” and ideas tend to be minimalist, they’ll never manage to eclipse the likes of Rammstein etc. always considered as the poor relative. And all those bands combined do not even hold a candle up to the real patriarchs of fucked up Laibach.
Give em a chance if you like EBM/Electro-metal, but otherwise… they’re unlikely to appeal to you.
“V” is obviously the fifth in a series of enumerated albums (despite 4, never receiving a number upon release) that the band has and contains some harder sounds and some fierce sounding analogue synths that make certain moments sound very 90s in conjunction with the phat, dump riffing. Apparently a couple of ideas have even been conveyed in the late 80s, according to Engler and indeed their stylistic differences are telling ie “Alive in A Glass Cage” even dates back to 1985 and was written at the same time as the original version of “Fatherland”. “The Vampire Strikes Back” was penned after the “Paradise Now” album and featured – in a slightly tamer version – in the video game “Wing Commander: Prophecy” in 1998”. Still in a world and a genre where production is “king” and ideas tend to be minimalist, they’ll never manage to eclipse the likes of Rammstein etc. always considered as the poor relative. And all those bands combined do not even hold a candle up to the real patriarchs of fucked up Laibach.
Give em a chance if you like EBM/Electro-metal, but otherwise… they’re unlikely to appeal to you.