That Total Age

Nitzer Ebb | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 31, 1990)
• Original Release Date: 1990
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Fontana Geffen
• ASIN: B000000OQK
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #103,969 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars i used to be overweight...., March 17, 2006

By 

Bob "Photoshop" (Vancouver) - See all my reviews

This review is from: That Total Age (Audio CD)

Until i bought this album! Right from the first song, this album commands you to do something physical or active. I started jogging after the first few listens, and although it did hurt at first, you eventually forget about it and lose yourself in the fast paced beats, and the amazing basslines. The shouting vocals also helped, they acted as though they were being sung by a drill seargant at a boot camp. It is impossible to sit still during this album. just get it if you need exercise, or if you just want something agressive yet not headache inducing. You will realise that there is a purpose to fitness!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Bad Poetry, March 10, 2005

By 

Christopher Schroen (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: That Total Age (Audio CD)

Orwell said this of Kipling's poetry: "At his worst, and also his most vital, ... Kipling is almost a shameful pleasure, like the taste for cheap sweets that some people secretly carry into middle life." The same thing, I think, could be said of Nitzer Ebb's "That Total Age."

I avoided Nitzer Ebb for years. My introduction to "industrial" music was Front 242's seminal "Front By Front" LP, which I heard for the first time in 1989. I soon became a Wax Trax! purist, heaping scorn on many artists who had the misfortune of a record deal with any other label. If it wasn't on Wax Trax!, then it didn't deserve to be called "industrial," I thought.

I was missing out, of course. One artist I should have been listening to in those days is Nitzer Ebb.

"That Total Age," like Kipling's verse or a taste for marshmallow bunnies, can be almost a shameful pleasure. The album is rife with almost painfully cheesy synthesizer riffs, and the lyrics can be downright silly ("Won't you/ come and join us/ In our/ Playground/ It's a/ violent playground/ Such a/ Violent Playground"), and yet this album is extremely enjoyable. The beats are infectious, and song after song manages to transcend its own hokum, much like Kipling's "good bad poetry."

It reminds me a bit of early Front 242 ("Geography") with a touch of Depeche Mode. If the beats were funkier, it might also remind you of Meat Beat Manifesto.

You probably wouldn't want to play this album in front of a girl you wanted to impress, but if you're a fan of industrial music, you could do a lot worse than pick up a copy of "That Total Age." This is some pretty good stuff.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If your going to own one Nitzer Ebb CD, this is it, November 10, 2001

By 

Melkor "dark lord" (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: That Total Age (Audio CD)

This is the best Nitzer Ebb CD, IMHO. It has all the beats, the sound, and aggression that I expected after hearing so much about the band. Besides, you can't resist "Murderous", "Violent Playground", and of course the club hit "Join the Chant". "GUNS! GUNS! GUNS! GUNS! FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! Owe! MUSCLE AND HATE!"

I agree that compared to what Skinny Puppy, FLA, and Ministry were doing back in '87, this CD does sound minimalistic. It's hard to match up to the aggression of Ministry, the soundscape of FLA, and the pure artistry of Skinny Puppy.

I must admit that the simplicity is what I enjoy about this CD. It makes it easier to dance to, and if you play any track off "That Total Age" in a club, the dance floor will be packed. I can highly recommend this CD to fans of dance/goth who don't mind a bit of '80s flavor to their music. The vocals are nice and distorted.