Customer Reviews

Menschdefekt

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Canadian record label ArtOfFact expands their superlative catalog with Menschdefekt, the newest release from German trio Massiv in Mensch. Menschdefekt combines the hard EBM aggression of MiM's Belastendes Material with the techno leaning and complex instrumentality of Die Rein and Uturn 1, and the result is nothing short of stunning.

MiM have always had a playful, light-heartedness about them: past song titles have included "Die Kotzebrocken" (Piece of Mud) and "Mein Erstes Bonbon" (My First Candy), and this style continues. The music of Menschdefekt is hard, fast, and intense, but doesn't have the heavy moodiness of other industrial acts like Dismantled - it's really a refreshing and energizing disc. A very welcome new aspect is the expanded use of female vocalist Sarah Folkens, whose wonderful voice graces many more tracks here than on past works. She also demonstrates a greater range than before, and sounds almost Lisa Gerrard-ish on "Le-Rav" and "Mein Letztes Bonbon". MiM mainstays Mirco Osterthun and Daniel Logemann do less vocal work this time around, but Folkens and the more involved programming more than make up for it.

Menschdefekt's songwriting is the most well-structured, unexpected, and enjoyable I've heard since Negative Format's brilliant Cipher Method. The songs flow into one another without losing momentum, and the breaks and changes constantly surprise and please. "A Gothic on XTC", while having a corny-sounding name, is a marvelous track that would be right at home at a rave for happy vampires - a smile-inducing dance track that retains a grandiose and decadent tone. It must be heard to be believed. "Schach Matt" is turbocharged beauty, and "Kunstmutter" features some amazing creativity and inspiration. Menschdefekt is one of those rare albums where not a single track seems out of place or superfluous (even the English-lyric "You're the Greatest Lover"), while never falling victim to recycled sequences and BPMs. It could be faulted for not being diverse - every song can be described as techno-laced EBM - but it's such high-quality and fits so well together that the album creates a very strong identity for itself.

MiM has taken the strengths of their past releases and fused them into a hybrid that has none of their former works' repetition. Menschdefekt fits right into the high-quality ArtOfFact library, and in fact stands out as one of the most satisfying, intelligently crafted electro albums recently released. Highly recommended for gearheads, synthpoppers, and ravers everywhere - it's not often that an electro album comes out that has the potential to please all of you.