Customer Reviews

Gotteskrieger

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Some bands are not satisfied unless they are pioneers ever pushing the boundaries and redefining the musical landscape. These are the folks who end up having entire genres defined by their sound and the legions of clones inevitably follow. Others are perfectly happy just making music they love regardless of whether some snob of a critic says they are derivative. VNV Nation is the former, while HeimatAerde is clearly the latter. In fact, it says right on the sticker that they sound a lot like :Wumpscut: and old Suicide Commando (the sticker is what Amazon has chosen to use as the 'Album Description'). Well I'm glad they said it themselves or I would have been forced to do so. Still there's something very likeable about a band that admits who they are unflinchingly; it allows you to move forward and just enjoy the album.

This debut effort is chock full of harsh, fast-paced EBM in that mid-90's style that included heavy beats, lots of abrasive noise, tossed-in voice samples and distorted vocals. However, as the label suggests, it does manage to break out of its shell and have a unique flavor. The calling card is that this album, despite being totally digital and moving at techno velocity, manages to maintain a very Dark Ages feel to it. That's appropriate given the artwork and the album's title 'Gotteskrieger' (German for "God's Warrior", or in this context more likely "Crusader"). This is pulled off by heavy usage of digital interpretations of medieval instruments, especially the high-pitched wind variety: bagpipes, raushpfeiffe, hurdy gurdy (yes, it's a real instrument... little box with a hand crank and several accordion-type keys... OK the actual description is even funnier than the name but it's for real alright), lutes, flutes, putes (Ok that's made up but I was rolling with the "utes") and so forth.

The effect is energetic, transporting and a bit otherwordly, which is very hard to do with rage-filled EBM, a musical form that is not normally in any way dreamy or ethereal. If you like harsh elektro I suggest checking this album out (and check out my full review soon to be posted at ReGen.com).

In London a few weeks ago, I dropped into a tiny hole in the wall Goth/Industrial/Metal store in Camden Town called Resurrection to see if they had any good black metal that was hard to find Stateside (they didn't), but they were playing this on the stereo in the store. Since I was poking around for a good hour, I got to hear the whole thing, and was pretty much completely blown away by the fact that good song after good song pumped--and I do mean pumped--out of the stereo, asking a couple of times, "hey, is this still the same album?" When it was finished, I asked who it was, and the store clerk said "Heematard"--like some sort of mentally retarded hemophiliac, I guess--and then showed me the album cover. Heimataerde. HIGH-mat-AIR-duh. From the German. "Homeland Earth."

Needless to say, even at hyperinflated London prices and with the execrably bad exchange rate, I bought it without even thinking twice. An EBM album with not a single bad track is a twice in a decade event. As for what it sounds like, think of early :wumpscut:, like Mesner Tracks or Bunkertor Sieben or Music For a Slaughtering Tribe era (i.e. back when they were good), along with very strong medieval overtones (pipes, military drums, etc.) a la The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath a Cloud, with the "Epic Trance Made by Goths" quality, technology, and production values of VNV Nation. Comparisons to Der Blutharsch or Das Ich would likewise not be off the mark. I was completely bored with the EBM genre before this came out, but it combines qualities of the three things I like best in alternative music--hard beats, neofolk elements, and lyrics in German. If you like any of the artists I have compared them to, you will absolutely ADORE Heimataerde. Recommended for fans of industrial, EBM, darkwave, goth, even black metal, and both catchy enough to be used to "initiate" people just getting into more underground sounds and kickass enough to make veterans remeber why they used to like this stuff so much in the first place.

EINS-ZWEI-DREI-FIER!

Heimataerde doesn't mess around. After an ambient, horror-movie-esque intro, hard industrial drops, complete with distorted kicks, distorted vocals, and lyrics in German. Classic Wumpscut comes to mind, but the album has a few softer moments to mix things up. Expect big synths, big melodies, big everything. Vampire dancefloors everywhere are no doubt eating, er, sucking this stuff up. A plus is the random sample midway through from "Army of Darkness"; it's used seriously, which makes it even funnier.

Gotteskrieger sure is a Masterpiece! Favourite track "Du Fehlst Mir" is awsome ;D. Dont miss out the Surrealistic Mashup with movieclips from Stalker on Youtube; [...]

Unique!!! As far as EBM goes...this is one of the genre's most original creations. Heimatearde blends some sort of weird Templar/medeval/evil knights vrs. futuristic German-techno machine. Brilliantly dark...a must have for any DJ who spins CD's for a goth/industrial nightclub. I have no idea what this crazy guy is saying in the lyrics...but this album is so much fun that I like it anyways.

I am new to the EBM scene, first of all. I bought this cd because I was trying to branch out from the more mainstream German rock of Rammstein, Megaherz, and Eisbrecher, and liked the reviews on this album. Did not know what to expect, but to say I was astounded at the amazing breadth and talent and intensity of this album is an understatement.

With a dark and gripping story in the booklet to follow along the tracks with, and haunting themes throughout the music, you will be amazed at the medieval feel sustained throughout by use of bagpipes, flutes, usw. I have listened to this album 3 times in the past day since I got it.

And I just ordered everything else I could find of theirs (one album, one ep, and preordered the next album). That's how awesome I think this is.

This is by far one of my favourite Industrial albums ever. check it out, or I will replace your eyeballs with cadbury creme eggs.