Customer Reviews

Welt

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is in response to "LunaVamp"'s review on Sunnypsyop. Yeah yeah, I may be projecting bigtime on perceived "if it ain't 100% bone-grinding SP then it's sh*te" but here we gooooo:

Damn, this album is wonderfully BAD in that way albums we loved in 1986 were bad. It's infectious and grows on you like a fungus. It sounds like something I would have dug up from the WaxTrax! catalog while ordering the latest Front 242 and FLA. But, back then, this album would have been (possibly) taking itself seriously and I would have "hated it" (but secretly loved it) when I was 15 because I took myself too seriously. I can't bring myself to think that Ogre is taking *himself* too seriously here...I hope. If we WAS taking himself seriously...well, that's Ogre.

Dare I say it reminds me a little bit (in terms of highly self-aware, tongue-in-cheek retro electronica) of Ladytron's efforts on the dance-industrial side? It's death-lite: dancy and a tad bit whiny but with a touch of "hard" ragged buzzy synth edge, reminiscent of (ducking) "Pretty Hate Machine," that I loved to hate back in the day. Except there's no poppy "Dig It" cover. Ha Ha. This is "With Sympathy" in reverse (you know, doing the dance-pop thing AFTER the harder stuff).

I love the combo of classic synth equipment plus very, very good production. I love the electro-gothlite anthem quality of songs like "Minus" and "Solow" and the campy dance durge of "Water." "Earthworm" reminds me a bit of LPD's "Crushed Velvet Apocalypse." i think it's just the synth textures of the song. i love the farty quality of the deep base synth.

Rant: I don't have to impress anyone with how "GOTH" or "HARDCORE" I am. Been there. Done that. Have all the T-Shirts. I'll happily blast this in my car and sing at the top of my lungs, to the horror of the doom squad. If I were a DJ, I'd play "Water" or "Devil" right after "Every Day is Halloween."

Like a lot of people who have reviewed ohGr's stuff here, I've been a Skinny Puppy fan for about 20 years (17 in my case). I didn't expect it to sound like SP. I would be disappointed if it DID sound like classic SP.

Having been a Skinny Puppy fan for over 12 years, I must say that this current project of Ogre's is refreshing and original.

Skinny Puppy's music has always required an aquired taste for the abstract and usually politically angry ideologies. Welt is still within the realm of Ogre's view of the world but in a different light.

Since Skinny Puppys demise, Ogre himself has found himself on many projects ranging from forgettable to blase'. On Welt though, he has regained not only the identity we've attached to him from Skinny Puppy, but also with a sense of ironic humor.

I've seen both Skinny Puppy and Ohgr live twice and I must say how different the energy was with Ogre considering how the two bands seem to constrast. Puppy shows were very dark, broading and eye/mind opening. The Ohgr shows had a very different mood to them and yet still contained that a sense of depth and vision. I believe that this is also reflected in the recorded music as well.

I will admit though that if you are expecting Welt to be exactly where Skinny Puppy left off, you will probably be a little disappointed. But if you are looking for something a little more structured and coherent yet with the same ingredients of activism and anger, then this might be what you've been looking for. I also think that this album is closer to the early days of Puppy (Bites and Remission) style wise if you do try and compare the two.

Either way, I believe it's a must have album for any Ogre fan that needs to keep the faith that there is still some excellent music out there despite the decadence of our current musical history.

If you expect to find some Skinny Puppyish material here, don't do it. OK, Ogre is the singer here, but this is not dark hard electronics. In fact, I don't know if this is electronics at all, industrial, rock, pop... Let me explain: when you listen to this album you can notice Ohgr must have very heterogeneous musical tastes, because this 'Welt' reminds me at the same time of so diverse music: David Bowie, Skinny Puppy (especially some songs from 'The Process'), Nine Inch Nails (ok, industrial purists, don't kill me, I'm not saying Ohgr is NIN style, but it has sometimes some reminiscences, some links). This music contains guitars (not metal ones), techno rhythms, electronics (quite simple but well crafted and effective) Ogre's voice sounds as it never sounded before (except from a couple of The Process's songs ('Candle', 'Cult?)) It is melodic, agressive, distorted, depending on the effect to achieve and the song. These seem very alike at first listening, but then you start to get the differences... 'Cracker' should be a hit, really, its chorus ('It's an original') is really catchy and wonderful. There's really no bad song here, all the 11 are really wonderful. So, when you buy this work, bear in mind that this is not Skinny puppy: it's different. But it's not only ok, it's really really good. I've read that this cd should have been released 4 or 5 years ago? well, it sounds ok for 2001; A last thing: I don't know how this cd will work commercially, but I think that it could be a hit not only in alternative charts but if it was properly commercialised it could be (I know it won't, but it could be) a real hit. It does contain all the elements for it: it's not Oasis but it's catchy (and good); it's not Skinny Puppy but it's complex in its simplicity. Buy it, listen to it, relish it... I really hope Ohgr won't be a 1 cd band and continue in the future. 'Welt' is a magnificent work.

Acronym for When Everyone Learns the Truth, this was the second collaboration between Al Jourgensen and Ogre, with Michael Balch, in the late '80s. It was talked about more than it was created, since they both were unfortunately getting deeper into hard drugs.
They never released any material, though one song was mixed and performed in the studio haphazardly ("Noreen"). The song somehow made its way on some Skinny Puppy bootlegs, and can be heard in its rawness in that form to this day. In 1995, Al retitled and remixed the track with additional instruments to "The Fall", and included it on the FILTH PIG album.
During the mid-to-late '90s, Ogre wanted to continue the project, sans Al, with Mark Walk, and release an album under the W.E.L.T. name on American Records. Due to poor contractual agreements, the project was shelved for almost five years, and whatever material and rights the duo signed away were property of American. When the rights came back to Ogre to re-record and release material under the name in 1999, Ogre jumped at the chance. When the mixes were completed and Ogre tried to release the material under the W.E.L.T. name, he was denied since another group was already named Welt. So in late 2000/early 2001, the group was re-named ohGr, and released this album entitled WELT in February of 2001.

Being more of a cEvin Key fan, I was skeptical when a friend of mine suggested listening to ohGr's new album, Welt. Technically Welt was Ogre's old side-project from the Skinny Puppy days that he seemed to have abandoned years ago. With respect to the old project, Ogre named his new album "Welt" and resurrected the anticipation fans once held thanks to the help of his personal friend and Seattle resident, Mark Walk.

As a test I randomly downloaded the first ohGr song I could find. I happened to stumble on the song "Pore" and immensely enjoyed what I heard. It was refreshing to know Ogre moved away from the influence of Al Jourgensen. So while at Virgin Records on a Friday September night, I decided to buy the album. I figured all the songs on Welt were as intense as Pore, but when I got it home I discovered it was mostly industrial glam rock and pop songs... a far cry from the song "Pore" I had downloaded and even further from what Ogre *used* to do back in his Skinny Puppy days!

At first I thought I was listening to a deranged Devo album and I thought I wasted my money. My first impression was to rate this album a 2... perhaps even a 3. The lyrics seemed like nursery rhymes and the music had too much of a "Fisher Price - My First Industrial Band" sound going on... but the more I listened, the more it started to grow on me.

As written in the liner notes, Mark Walk is responsible for most of the music on the album. He's also the guy who remixed the song Smothered Hope on Skinny Puppy's Remix DysTemper, and funny enough, most of the music on Welt has that Atari-ness you'd expect from Walk. Unlike other artists of the industrial genre, the Nintendo-fx are tasteful and actually add to the listening experience. While you can definitely tell it's Ogre on vocals, I was mostly surprised by the Gary Numan influence I heard in his voice.

After a few days of listening to this album, my opinions on this album have changed completely. It's definitely a fun driving album in my opinion, and while the idea of hearing ohGr belt out a pseudo-rap is a bit ridiculous, it's also entertaining.

ohGr's Welt is fun. It's danceable. It's Ogre singing. It's Ogre a s Davie Bowie. It's Ogre as Gary Numan. It's Ogre doing the can-can, and it grows on you until you play it over and over on your stereo.

This music is Funky, with a capitol F. 6 years in lawyer limbo and the album sounds like it was made yesterday, nothing dated at all. Walk has made leaps forward since his somewhat spiritless Ruby effort providing song after song full of funky (there's that word again, it's inescapible), catchy, popy, noisey, discoey, industrial dance masterpieces. And Ogre, his voice melds perfectly with the music, his lyrics wrap around the sounds as inspererable organs in a system of a song. With the proper comercial push this album could be in the charts, way way way up there, but you know it won't make it from a small lable (nothing against spitfire, they just don't have the wealth and means in this world of corporate music). Some songs sound like prince, some like Green Day, some like Nine Inch Nails, some like KMFDM, and little flashes of Skinny Puppy here and there, as well as old Ministry, a little Cabaret Voltaire, Kraftwerk, even Len! Jeeze Lousie! Everything is in here. This album is like a Doctoral thesis on the history of Industrial music, from it's experimental roots to its synthpop/noise disco rebirth and it's belgium EBM mutations on into its rock/metal hybridization. This is one of those albums that gets better each time you listen to it much like Severed Heads, another band you hear flashes of in here. Just buy it!

First of all, let me say that this isn't what I'd consider Industrial persay, it's just what iTunes identified it as. I would say it is more goth/pop/electronic if I had to give it a genre. It is very catchy and danceable. I believe that it is a very accessible album, even though it isn't that popular. I like to compare the track "Earthworm" as a combination of The Streets, a tiny bit of Queen, and a happy NIN. "Minus" is probably the hardest track that you'll encounter.

I'm not a rabid fan of Skinny Puppy (and the only reason I am comparing it to Skinny Puppy is that both members are from it), but ohGr has certainly gotten a hold of me with 'Welt'.

The songs are pretty much calling out with the kind of Industrial I really enjoy. Songs like "Devil", "Pore", and "Chaos" are among my favorites.

At times, though, the songs in my opinion can get repetitive. Maybe that is just because I've listened to this album so many times. Respectively, I have taken a month or so off from listening to it, and it never seems to get old.

Don't expect to find Skinny Puppy's sound here. This is ohGr. ohGr = No Skinny Puppy

Mmmkay?

everyone wants to say its not industrial, or its synth pop, or you can't dance to it, or blah blah blah blah. Its not skinny puppy 2.0 for christs sake, it isn't all of those things, its better.

Finally, something different!!! this is truly revolutionary music that is pushing the bounderies of electronic music.

I can't tell you how much of a breath of fresh air this album is, you have to hear it for yourself. The sound design is out of this world. The original idea ogre had in mind was to use old funky keyboards that you could create these insane sounds with, thats how tracks like kettle came about.

The album only gets better with every listen. your doing yourself a huge disfavor if you don't give this album a chance. cevin key thought it was so good he played drums on the tour, and if thats not enough, the main musician from ohgr (mark walk) is now a member of skinny puppy, and produced The Greater Wrong Of The Right.

I have to admit that I consider Ohgr to be the best set of work to come out of Skinny Puppy. While SP is very noisy experimental stuff, Ohgr is very polished and every song is good. I am really surprised that this stuff is not on the radio. I too saw Ohgr at the Palace in Hollywood (this is a small place, I guarantee you would not see Nine Inch Nails here, which is more what this album resembles--back in the pretty hate machine days). I don't understand why this band is not huge. I guess I have no idea what is popular and what is not anymore. Definitely the most accessible listening that Ogre (the man) has done. Do yourself a favor and buy this CD.