Customer Reviews

That Total Age

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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!

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.

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.

Some may argue about exactly what industrial music is, but to me, this album is the epitome of the genre. Released in 1987, "That Total Age" is unlike the pop of Nine Inch Nails, without the guitars of Ministry, or similar to the techno/dance of the Thrill Kill Kult. It's repetitive, angry, pipes clanging, screaming, and simple. It's just industrial. This album, along with some Skinny Puppy, Front 242, and the above mentioned bands, make for a quality industrial collection. Even the cover art on this is classic. Overall I'm not a Nitzer Ebb expert, but I suspect this is their best offering.

At a time when Industrial was an up and coming genre (circa 1989-91 and an industrial night could be found at most cool clubs) these boys were at the forefront. Nitzer Ebb helped evolve dance music. The words, "Join in the Chant" could be heard in nightclubs around the world (from Limelight in New York City to Hard Club at Gossips in London) as angry disenchanted youth found an outlet for their angst.

I still remember the first time I watched the video for "Murderous" on "120 minutes" in the late 80s, back when MTV used to play music videos. I was lucky enough to record it on VHS, and I watched it all over and over again for months. A friend in school ended up buying the album, made a copy for me, and I was transformed. The heavy beats, the energy, the hard pumping synth, the angst in the lyrics, all resonated with me.

I was extremely lucky to catch them live in the early 90s ("Ebbhead Tour"), and to this day, I still think it was one of the best live performances in a small venue I have ever seen...very visual, very goth-like, up to par with Front 242's live show around the same time.

This is definitely a very "pioneer" production, and their best effort. This album is what made them who they are today, even though they deviated from this sound, to what some consider a more "watered-down" version. And incredible industrial gem. 5 Stars.

It took me forever to find this album. It was worth the search, too. During my epic search for this album, I became acquainted with the clasic Industrial albums; "Land of Rape and Honey," "VIVIsectVI," "Front By Front," "Let it Be," "I See Good Spirits and I See bad spirits." Hearing those albums can change a guy's perspective on music. It did mine. I began to believe that no album can surpass their greatness. I was wrong(partialy.) This one stomps all over anything Front 242 ever released, most Skinny Puppy, and any other Ministry album. Every time I hear "Join In The Chant," I must get up, break a Limp Bizkit, Korn, or Puddle of Mud cd... then run as fast I can from all the Nu-metal kids. Other undisputed classics are "Violent Playground," "Let your body learn," and "Murderous." Get some friends over, put "Doom Generation" in the VCR, and

There is no comparison of That Total Age to any other musical work from another artist. It is NITZER EBB at their purest. It's perfect -- unrelentingly aggressive, timeless and poignant. It's as relevent today as it was when recorded. If your're looking at this recording you've already made it this far, enduldge yourself. Research their catalog and profile, they are worth it. Go see them too.

Nitzer Ebb are usually filed under "industrial," and I suppose that's pretty accurate, but I get the feeling they'd rather like to be known for just plain dance music. On "That Total Age," their first and finest album, they gave a unique twist to the genre. If much of dance music can seem oppressive (the metronomic beats, the repetition), Nitzer Ebb made it openly fascistic. Their electronic music is stripped down to the bone; often just a harsh beat, a bass line and shouted lyrics that resemble brutal slogans. "Join In The Chant" contains outbursts like "muscle and hate" and "book book book book, burn burn burn burn." Still, it's actually danceable--even suitable for some heavy aerobics. Big Brother commands you to sweat! If the roof, the roof, the roof is on fire, they probably lit it up. And locked the doors. In some spots, "That Total Age" sounds a bit like the first Big Black EP, "Lungs," although I'm sure Steve Albini would give NE a back-alley sex change operation rather than admit it.

Later on in their career, Ebb would add in unnecessary frills such as guitars and (gasp!) melody that only served to water down their sound. If you want a taste of the hard stuff, though, submit yourself before "That Total Age."

Back in the day, when they first emerged in the mid-to-late 1980s, Nitzer Ebb were one of the purely aggressive, angst-ridden modern-rock bands out there. Their first cd is filled with tunes
of aggression, more aggression, and more more aggression. It clearly doesn't take a good listener to pick up on the aggression coming from all levels (lyrics, instruments, mood). And if that's your thing, well, you'll definitely find it here.
The interesting thing here is that with all the hate, loudness, and militant-like attitude going on, there's that danceable feeling that tends to come from within. If you like to dance a lot, you may as well shake your hips to this. Clubs use to, or perhaps still do, play certain Ebb tunes - particularly from this CD. Tracks such as "Join In The Chant" and "Murderous" (both singles from the CD) could be found in underground clubs if not elsewhere. And for those types that like to dance silly and purposely do bad dance impressions, this CD is accessible for that as well.
The main thing that makes this CD far from perfect is that the whole aggression-dancebeat thing can get on your nerves sometimes. In that case, it simply depends on either what mood of music you're currently feeling or if you have not heard this CD for soo long and just feel like putting the disc in the player.
Ebb's main schtick is, and had been (they broke up in '96) an angst, in-your-face, deep-voiced demeanor. "Let Your Body Learn" and "Smear Body" are some of the anger-meets-techno-meets-anger cuts that should put current "angst-ridden" alternative groups to shame (well, the list could go on forever). Too bad they're not around now to face off with some of those present "aggression-filled" rock bands, huh. Whether you will find them to be the real deal when it comes to angry rock or laughable and completely out of their minds, Ebb's debut CD should please your anger/aggression tastes if nothing else. Join in the chant!!!