Customer Reviews

Wreath of Barbs

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Rudy Ratzinger continues on his course with his latest release, Wreath Of Barbs. It seems that Rudy takes a slightly different approach on this album. This is no more obvious than on the title track for this cd. 'Wreath Of Barbs' is a very minimalistic song, featuring some ultra distorted vocals (done in a very strange fashion) and some acoustic guitar! This song is surgically precise in delivering a despondent mood throughout. Another stellar track is 'Deliverance' which is more like the typical :wumpscut: sound. This song is very dancable and, by no surprise, is the cd's first single (I think). 'Opening The Gates Of Hell' as well as 'Bleed In Silence' are both excellent tracks.

After several listens to my promo copy, I've concluded that this outing is overall less suited to the dance floor than previous CD's. However, on that note, :wumpscut:'s sound is changing and evolving into a more focused machine. This is still a dark CD, no doubt.

The only downside to this CD was 'Dr. Thodt'. I love the music, but found the female spoken vocals to be annoying.

If you are reading this, then there is a great probability you are already a wumpchild and probably have your money set aside to buy this disc. If you are not a wumpchild, then what are you waiting for?

Wreath of Barbs is, for Wumpscut at least, an odd directional turn that flicked the "off" switch in many people's shallow EBM minds. Compared to their prior releases, this album's darkly moody ambiance wore a slower skin than people were accustomed to, opening it to a flurry of reviews in the "underground" touting the word "mainstream." Still, what is forgotten is that this album doesn't follow the atypical "beaten path," giving the Wumpscut fan the experimental flavor they should have grown used to by now.
There are actually quite a few quality tracks on this album, with moods ranging from the thoughtfully brooding, almost surreally vocalized "Wreath of Barbs" to the more moody, eerily pitched "Line of Corpses." There are other jumps here, too, with the catchy beat of "Opening the Gates of Hell" meshing with the somewhat cheesy, yet strangely disturbed "Dr. Thodt."
All in all, the album is a worthwhile addition to anyone's collection, but it has to be noted that anyone easily offended, especially those religiously inclined, need not apply.

I must confess that I just discovered Wumpscut. I have been on a serious industrial kick and was looking for something that wasn't familiar to me like Skinny Puppy, KMFDM, the Electric Hellfire Club, etc...etc.... Out of sheer curiousity, I came across "Wreath of Barbs" on Amazon, and being the daring person that I am, I bought it. I wasn't sure of what to expect but that is the beauty of exploring new music. I love to take risks like that since 99% of the time those risks pays off. "Wreath of Barbs" is just that, buying that album was well worth the risk. The moment I heard the searing industrial beats of "Opening the Gates of Hell", my mouth just dropped wide open. Needless to say I loved what I heard. "Wreath of Barbs" is nothing what I have ever heard before. I found this album to be completely unique from say a KMFDM or Rammstein album. A lot of people would might think this album is nothing but noise but I found "Wreath of Barbs" to be quite melodic and catchy. What really struck a chord with me is the nihilistic lyrics. In some eery way, I found listening to them quite carthartic, if not therapeutic. If anything, the lyrics on "Wreath of Barbs" reduces humanity to this negative force on earth hellbent on its self-destruction. Eventually mankind will be swallowed up by its own selfish actions. If and when the apocalypse comes, Wumpscut would be ideal to deliver a soundtrack to accompany the misery and suffering of humanity that follows suit. Of the few industrial albums that I own so far, "Wreath of Barbs" stands out above them. This is nothing I have ever heard before. I am certainly going to start checking out earlier Wumpscut albums.

When I first listened to Wreath of Barbs by :wumpscut:, I didn't like it. It didn't seem to grab me the way the earlier releases did. However, the more I listen to the album, the more it grows on me. The tracks are very repetitive, and this was what first detracted from my enjoyment. Now I see the repetitiveness is actually a strength. The repetition creates an eerie trance-like reaction, and the music leaks into my mind like thin blood spreads into surrounding muscle.

Okay, now that I'm through with the cheesy doom and gloom metaphors, I can get down into the technicalities of the songs. Wreath of Barbs is a slower-paced album than earlier releases. There are no stompy club hits like Soylent Green. However, the downbeat tracks make up for the loss of tempo with sheer chord power.

:wumpscut: makes use of anachronistic sounds, mixing orchestral strings and antique-sounding harpsichord settings with very electronic chord patterns and digital drums. The title track and "Deliverance" both make use of vocoders. Augmented vocals used to be de rigueur in industrial music until they became cliche. Now they've apparently come around full circle, because the vox manipulation works very nicely.

The result is a down but danceable album that will remain in my CD player for a long time to come.

When I first listened to Wreath of Barbs by :wumpscut:, I didn't like it. It didn't seem to grab me the way the earlier releases did. However, the more I listen to the album, the more it grows on me. The tracks are very repetitive, and this was what first detracted from my enjoyment. Now I see the repetitiveness is actually a strength. The repetition creates an eerie trance-like reaction, and the music leaks into my mind like thin blood spreads into surrounding muscle.

Okay, now that I'm through with the cheesy doom and gloom metaphors, I can get down into the technicalities of the songs. Wreath of Barbs is a slower-paced album than earlier releases. There are no stompy club hits like Soylent Green. However, the downbeat tracks make up for the loss of tempo with sheer chord power.

:wumpscut: makes use of anachronistic sounds, mixing orchestral strings and antique-sounding harpsichord settings with very electronic chord patterns and digital drums. The title track and "Deliverance" both make use of vocoders. Augmented vocals used to be de rigueur in industrial music until they became cliche. Now they've apparently come around full circle, because the vox manipulation works very nicely.

The result is a down but danceable album that will remain in my CD player for a long time to come.

Wumpscut's new release, Wreath of Barbs, shows that the band is heading in a somewhat different musical direction. Compared to their previous albums, the new sound doesn't have that harsh and grating quality that defined Wumpscut.
However, this is not a bad thing. Although I loved Wumpscut for what they were, Wreath of Barbs is a great album. It includes both the regluar male vocals, along with additional female vocals. The music itself is more trancey and danceable now, but still industrial.
If you've never listened to Wumpscut before, I'd recommend purchasing one of their other albums first. If you're already a Wumpscut fan, this album won't let you down.

With this album it seems that you are either going to love it or hate it. Obviously by giving it a 5 star rating I am of the former and think it is the most complete album Rudy has yet released. Although there are higher highs on albums such as Eevil Young Flesh and Embryodead, on Wreath of Barbs every track is great. For me the best tracks are those in which the music is at it darkest in tracks such as, Opening the Gates of Hell, Deliverance and Line of Corpses. In addition, I also very much admire the tracks that Aleta Welling contributed to, including Dr Thodt, which maybe a bit over the top, but appealing none the less, especially to those with a morbid outlook on the world. But then again, I don't know many shiny, happy people that listen to :wumpscut: anyway. Another jewel on this album is Welling's version of Eclipse, in which she provides hauntingly beautiful vocals that are a nice contrast to the rest of this albums chilling intensity.
Besides the standard :Wumpscut" fare, that we have all come to love, this album also has several very catchy and dancy songs, such as Christf*ck and the title song Wreath of Barbs, that compliments nicely the more sinister and brooding atmosphere created by the rest of the album. If you like the :W: of Soylent Green and Eternal then by all means you will enjoy Wreath of Barbs, which for my money is one of the best industrial albums to come out in the last few years. And as one of the songs ominously proclaims, it seems that Rudy really is opening the gates of hell with this one. Enjoy!

I really give this about 3.5 stars but since that isn't an option...

WoB has its great moments to be sure. Unfortunately there aren't enough of them. The standouts have to be the dancefloor crusher "Deliverance" and the angry, sacreligious "Christf*ck". "Delieverance" is a bit of a hybrid between the old grinding, rage-ridden :Wumpscut: style and the new cleaner Futurepop style that is prevalent in much of the scene. The vox are not nearly as harsh and the beat in crisper and less distorted than his earlier work.

"Christf*ck" is more of a throwback to his aggressive industrial assault. The most creative element is the way the sampled single word "Christ" is repeated along with the hammer strike to form its own sort of beat through spots of the song.

Outside of the standouts is where this release falls short. Compared to previous releases there is just more filler here and a couple of songs that are quite lackluster. Rudy certainly needs to do something to revamp the interest in :W: and get back near the top of the scene, and trying female vocals was no doubt a good idea. The issue is that the songs featuring Aleta Welling simply are not well written songs. These sound more like rehash than a new direction to me.

Given that I have interviewed Rudy several times and listened to :W: for over a decade I consider myself an expert here. This is not one of his best albums and despite what you may have read elsewhere, this is a very poor starting point. Try 'Embryodead', 'Bunker Gate 7' or 'Dried Blood of Gomorrha' first.

A marked departure from older Wumpscut, but twisted dementia still finds its place among death and disease in Wreath of Barbs. The only complaints I have seemed to notice regarding new Wumpscut material is its lack of energetic tracks (read this as "danceable" or "club worthy"). People cite this album and Bone Peeler as examples...but let me say this: the main thread tying all wumpalbums together is decay. This is only, of course, my humble opinion. It worked on MFAST, Bunkertor 7, Embryodead, and Eevil Young Flesh, and it works here too. But if every album were MFAST, how good of an artist would Rudy be?

This disc apeared in my mailbox right when I wanted to hear it most. Most songs are on par with my expectation but the rest, not so much. Coupled with a flimsy jewel case I'd like to offer 4 stars.