Title: Serve or Suffer
Artist: Absurd Minds
Genre: Alternative / Industrial / Electro
Release Date: 5th March 2010
Label: Scanner
Album Review
ABSURD MINDS was formed in 1995 by Stefan Grossman and Tilo Ladwig, it all started as a home studio project but things rapidly changed in 1999 when they did their first gig at the scene club “Bunker” in Dresden where they ended up with a label contract on Scanner. The first album ‘Deception’ came in 2000 and during their career, this far they have released five albums. Learning that their last album came in 2005 I can imagine that the band’s fans really had marked the release date of ‘Serve or Suffer’ in their calendar.
When I first started listening to ‘Serve or Suffer’, I did not have the lyrics and that was probably a good thing because as I went further into the album the music took over and quickly captured my interest. Then when I got my hands on the lyrics it all heightened the total experience of the album. I started to like it more and well even if I hear what the singer Stefan Grossmann sings it’s different when I have the lyrics and know exactly what he is talking about. All through ‘Serve of Suffer’ you find complex songs that change and develop in an interesting way. This is not just a “happy Synth-Pop album”, it’s so much more! It has good melodies and very strong lyrics that really are worth to reflecting and think about.
‘Human Bomb’ for example starts with cool sounds and vocals, but then when the chorus comes in, the song becomes so much more! I simply love the melody and the chorus where singer Stefan Grossmann manages to change his voice in a way that makes it sound like two persons singing instead of one. ‘Eternal Witness’ comes with different sound and really cool lyrics; this song kind of takes off with the chorus when the song speeds up and makes me wanting to dance around. ‘S(hell)s’ is like a hidden pearl in the middle of the album. The song turns out to be so much more while reading the lyrics to the music. I like this “play with words” they show that there are a lot of thoughts behind the lyrics.
Talking about ‘Countdown’, the Synth sounds in this song really make me good tempered; it was an instant favourite that gave me some serious trouble with moving on and listen to the rest of the songs since I just wanted to keep hitting repeat and turn up the volume! Brilliant vocals and chorus “Hey here comes the countdown. I’ll swallow the night. Are you prepared to embrace the night?”.
Tracklist
01. The King
02. Human Bomb
03. Interconnectedness
04. Deficit Mindset
05. Pendulum Swing
06. Eternal Witness
07. Serve or Suffer
08. S(hell)s
09. Countdown
10. Tear it Down
11. I Enter You
12. Somebody
13. Holier Than Thou
Line-up
Stefan Grossmann - vocals, songwriting, arranging and programming.
Tilo Ladwig - programming, arranging and keyboards.
Timo Fischer - arranging and drums
Website
http://www.absurdminds.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/absurdminds
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 8.5
Sound: 8.5
Extras: -
Total: 8.5 / 10
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