Customer Reviews

Radio Inferno

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This is not a typical musical album, but a radio dramatisation of Dante's classic poem, Divine Commedy. You could also say this is a multilingual approach to La Commedia: its makers speak and sing Dante's verses in italian, german and english (John Peel makes a special appearance as hell's primetime DJ). However, it is a very condensed version of the Inferno -as you might know it is the first part of the poem, while the other two are Purgatory and Heaven-, a little bit scary, with a terrific mix -from this guys of Einsturzende Neubauten- great sound and voice effects. I don't know, I'm not a music critic, just a guy who had the luck of listening to this odd piece of art, and also a lover of Dante's Commedia. A last word: if you read the book, you'll enjoy even more the record. I don't really know why, but I think that's the way it is.

This was not what I expected. I only heard one track on iTunes Ambient Radio that was so great, but alass, the other tracks had wasy too much diolog.

turn the lights down and let yourself go ! the music samples used and soundscapes that are created paint a vivid picture to the text . the most unbelievable marriage that you may ever hear in this style. a collectors item

This album is at once both completely unquantifiable and precisely what one would expect.

To deal with the second point; F.M.Einheit, perennial (and now ex-) percussionist for Einsturzende Neubauten joins with Andreas Ammer to re-create a live radio-show version of Inferno. If you are familar with Einheit, Neubauten, or Ammer, you will not be surprised by this work. You will, however, be pleased.

First point: there is perhaps no other piece of music like this that has been created. In tone and theme, it is superficially similar to Einheit's work with Neubauten, most specifically Hamletmaschine and Faustmusik, but it is deeper in scope and thicker in sound than either.

What else could one say? There are no comparisons to be drawn, only contrasts to be evoked. All that may be appropriate for me to say is this; if you possess any depth of intellect, any appreciation for any of the artists involved (Dante included) and a healthy dose of tolerance for noise, then listen to this. Find a dark room with the best stereo you can find, by yourself or with others who will remain silent and can appreciate what you will hear, and listen to this.

This production is a classic example of the incredibly evolved sound-montage common to the German Hoerspielle tradition. Sadly, we Americans lack visionary committment to radio art of this calibre and are not treated to even sporadic installments of radio plays, let alone savvy media-experimentation that directly comments on the power of propaganda and the society of the spectacle. This release seems to have caught on with sound art enthusiasts and perhaps the situation is improving with the curious frequenting imaginative podcasts and international radio-streams, and our 'clear channel' conformist-culture is beginning to take notice. Whether that's the case or not, this wildly imaginative adaptation of Dante's Inferno set the media landscape as our contemporary hell long before anyone knew the name 'clear channel' or the marvellously incendiary film _Outfoxed_. Now if only we had American Brechts and Müllers on the radio to remind our public of what hate-mongering rhetoricians in the name of Christ are up to...

F.M Einheit creates musical landscapes that take you far away from mundane reality. Without his ambitious trips through the beyond, we would not have truly great modern electronic music.

B.W./author/Labyrinth of Chaos