Big Hit [Import]

Nitzer Ebb, ???????? | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 3, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Mute
• ASIN: B000024H0I
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #721,489 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Cherry Blossom

2. Hear Me Say

3. Kick It

4. I Thought

5. Floodwater

6. Border Talk

7. In Decline

8. Living Out Of A Bag

9. Boy

10. Our Own World

Editorial Reviews

1. Cherry Blossom 5:30 2. Hear Me Say 4:06 3. Kick It 3:39 4. I Thought 5:16 5. Floodwater 3:35 6. Border Talk 3:24 7. In Decline 5:36 8. Living Out Of A Bag 5:38 9. Boy 4:17 10. Our Own World 5:36

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars a sad end, April 7, 2001

By 

D. M. MATALLIN "Origami" (Valencia, Spain) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Big Hit (Audio CD)

'Big Hit' is the less representative album of Nitzer Ebb, a very interesting EBM band which are next to Front 242 as the best in their style. It's not a bad album, it starts really good: 'Cherry blossom' is a very interesting song which presented us the new Ebb sound: distorted guitars which sound as electronics. 'Kick It' is more rock but really catchy song; 'I Thought' is a quiet ballad ending with explossive rock guitars; 'Floodwater' is also quite interesting and very catchy. BUT there're 2 things i dont like about this album. 1: it sounds as if Nitzer ebb wanted to follow NIN or 242's Up Evil style, and that, while not being necessarily bad in itself, it is when it sounds much too similar; some of the songs remind me too much of some 242 songs in 'Up Evil', such as 'Melt' or 'Fuel'; 2: while there's a bunch of really good songs, there're others quite mediocre, especially the second half of the album. Douglas's voice is very good anyway, and Nitzer Ebb are not to blame for trying to change their typical EBM-industrial rigid beat. But the album sounds as if it was half-finished; and the worst and strange of it is that in b-sides there're some songs ('Friend', 'Beats Me') which are quite good and superior to the mediocre songs of the album.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Signs of disintegration, April 26, 2000

By 

loteq (Regensburg/Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Big Hit (Audio CD)

After "Ebbhead", the stunning leap forward which made NE the kings of progressive industrial-rock, "Big hit" met with mixed reviews and was generally considered as a misstep. This album features a more traditional rock approach, but since NE are a band that relies heavily on electronics, it doesn't work well. Though this album comes up with lots of good ideas, there are too many redundant sound effects and it's overproduced. Besides, it seems to me as if some songs are only half-way developed. As the reviewer below said, the lyrics are better and more personal than on all previous albums. For example, "Floodwater" deals with Douglas' divorce. Well, the music is rather confused and dissonant, there's a lack of concise song structures and memorable melodies. Since NIN have done this kind of electro-rock much better with "Broken" and "Downward spiral", I have to wonder where NE's raison d'etre has gone. I found out that the CD-single releases "Kick it" and "I thought" are much more rewarding, containing some interesting remixes and previously unreleased material. "Big hit", however, is not a complete failure, but a disappointing final album from a once great band.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not very good, Not very good at a,ll, June 2, 2005

By 

glommy glom glom - See all my reviews

This review is from: Big Hit (Audio CD)

Here we have our boys making the record they have been wanting to make for a long time: A "ROCK" record. It seems to me that good "rock" records require a few key ingredients: Strong steady beat, catchy guitar riffs, catchy lyrics, and a good voice.
Unfortunately, Harris/McCarthy fall flat on all these things. Doug is trying to sing, but he can't. The beats are nothing but sampled acoustic drum loops (and obviously so). The lyrics are abismal, excluding some of the lyrics from "Cherry Blossom", and "kick it"- the album's best song. A few times throughout the album I can hear the fat synth lines and bass notes that give me reason to keep coming back to Nitzer Ebb. Here, though they mainly act as drizzle on a scone. Its a uncomfortable mix that few artist seem to do well, i.e. NIN, late Ministry.
But tour boys have always loved American rock music, as exemplified in "Showtime". Though they got the parts together, it does not hold together. Finally, the boys have nothing to say after all these years.