Eisheilig - Imperium

Title: Imperium
Artist: Eisheilig
Genre: Gothic Metal
Release Date: 18th September 2009
Label: Drakkar Records



Introduction

EISHEILIG is a German gothic metal band that has been around since 1999. Having started out as a punk-influenced heavy metal band, the guys soon discovered their love for dark gothic metal with an electronic influence and also a slight pop feel. Before their current album ‘Imperium’, they had already released four albums that revealed many different sides of EISHEILIG. From more rock-oriented albums to more gothic-inclined works or albums with a 70ies feel, they have done everything, and are now taking another step into a new direction with their latest apocalyptic opus ‘Imperium’.


Album Review

On ‘Imperium’, the latest release of EISHEILIG, the band clearly proclaims the apocalypse and at the same time supplies the suitable soundtrack to this doomsday scenario. It is by far the most political work of the band that is characterized by a very dark and threatening mood that draws through the whole album. This mood and of course the lyrics make it a profound and thoughtful concept album that is rounded off by a heavy, electronic/industrial musical background and the (intentionally) monotonous, hypnotic vocals by Dennis Mikus. Due to these very deep, spoken word vocals in particular, the whole album in general rather reminds of a political manifesto or speech, even though I have to admit I was really missing variety in the vocals after first listen and actually still think that the vocals are sometimes a bit too isolated from the rest of the music.

Of course one can also notice similarities to other well-known bands in the industrial / metal / gothic genre. While Dennis Mikus’ vocals and some of the musical arrangements at times remind of RAMMSTEIN [e.g. the intro of ‘Tanz das Kapital’ (‘Dance the Capital’) reminds me of the intro of the RAMMSTEIN song ‘Los’, and the heavy guitar riffs in ‘Zeitgeist’ and ‘Krieg dieses Planeten’ (‘War of the Planet’) also sound a bit similar to older RAMMSTEIN stuff], it is this very gloomy industrial vibe and the political and social context that I found strikingly similar to LAIBACH. Nevertheless ‘Imperium’ also contains very epic orchestral passages that convey a kind of soundtrack feel and really fit to the background music. While the vocals are mostly monotonous, quite unspectacular and uniform (as mentioned above), one can notice some melody and variety in the music, mostly brought about by these symphonic passages or by the appropriate use of synth sounds that accompany the heavy guitar riffs and pounding drum beats. The powerful drum parts are also among the things that I liked best in the album because they really lead the way for the guitars and oftentimes force the sound into a particular direction.

The connection between the instrumental arrangement and the lyrics is another important point wherein the album succeeds. This becomes obvious in a song such as ‘Lauft’ (‘Run’): In this particular song, the lyrics basically encourage the listener to break his chains, to release himself and to run away from the threatening apocalypse. The musical composition accompanies this message by incorporating hectic riffs, marching drums and an orchestral arrangement that could well be used in typical “fighting scenes” in Hollywood movies. The opener ‘Imperium der Schande’ (‘Imperium of Shame’) also includes samples of a cheering and applauding mass of people that really contribute to the atmosphere and lyrical content of the song and also emphasize the notion of the album being a political manifesto.

Apart from all that, other notable things that one can discover in this album are female and male choir passages that resemble old Gregorian choir parts, a quite different-sounding xylophone intro (and outro) in the song ‘Blut der Wölfe’ (‘Blood of the Wolves’), a calmer electronic part in the song ‘Das letzte Gericht’ (‘The Last Judgement’) that might have been influenced by bands such as DEPECHE MODE, a lot more driving marching beats, and one song with only English lyrics (the last song ‘Now We Leave’) that serves as the final statement to the saga and also contains a lot of industrial influences.

So while the album in fact carries some nice elements and ideas, in order to conclude this review I need to come back to what I had already said in the first paragraph about the lack of variety on the album. After the first few listens, none of the songs stuck with me, and because of the sometimes “isolated” vocals I had a hard time to “dive” into most of the songs, even though the background music obviously creates a dense atmosphere. I also thought the overall production of the album could have been more powerful and massive, especially since it is the album’s main goal to convey an atmosphere of total devastation and hopelessness. However, the lyrical concept and background of the album sounds very interesting to me, and although I think one could have made a bit more out of everything, the album will most likely please long-established EISHEILIG fans and also fans of dark industrial / gothic metal with German lyrics.


Tracklist
07. Zeitgeist
08. Blut der Wölfe
09. Now We Leave


Line Up

Dennis Mikus - Vocals
Till Maiwald - Guitar
Markus Vogler - Bass
Dominik Sapia - Drums


Website

http://www.eisheilig.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/eisheiligband


Cover Picture




Rating

Music: 7
Sound: 7
Extras: -
Total: 7 / 10


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