CD Review: Pankow - And Shun The Cure They Most Desire

Artist: Pankow
Title: And Shun The Cure They Most Desire
Genre: EBM, Elektro, Industrial
Release Date: 1st March 2013
Label: Out Of Line Music

Album Review

PANKOW are standing for Brute and experimental electronic sound as well as bizarre and angry lyrics. The band was founded 1982 in Florence / Italy and are active since then – with a few interruptions. Their first album ‘Freiheit Für Die Sklaven’ was released 1987. The EBM / Industrial project was brought to life by Maurizio Fasolo (sampler), Alessandro Cellai (sampler), Alessandro Cimignani (drums) and Alex Spalck (vocals). Over years, the line-up changed an 1996, the first album with the new singer, Gianluca Becuzzi, was released, not really convincing the fans. His time in the band was already over after this one album. Following albums were again sung by Spalck. The last album ‘Great Minds Against Themselves Conspire’ was released five years ago.

But now, PANKOW are back, relaxed and with a lot of new song ideas. ‘And Shun The Cure They Most Desire’ was written by Spalck and three of the songs bear also his vocals, next to new singer Bram Declercq. The sonic anarchists headed by Maurizio (fm) Fasolo and Paolo Favati (whose definitive return to the band will probably delight the old fan base) have again set out to defy genre conventions. A choral-like intro named ‘Great Minds Against Themselves Conspire’ opens up the album. Also the first song, ‘Dirty Old Man’, is opened up with careful tunes. But all of a sudden, the lyrics are burst out by a rude voice. And altogether, this is flowing into a unusual happy melody. With this song, PANKOW cared for a perfect album start.

PANKOW get down to business with gloomy Industrial sounds of ‘Logophobia’, followed by a song belonging more to the Electro-Pop genre. ‘Crash and Burn’ feels more like the lost club hit on the album. But the band can also deliver melodic tunes, like the song proves. Now we take speed down and add some monotony. Old-school sounds with vocoded voice come up during ‘Mortality’, a song that really grips you. ‘Escape from Beige Land’ was re-recorded in 2012 and sounds much fresher now. A deep humming is drilling into your ear as opening for ‘Regenerated Degenerated’. This song is a down-tempo hymn to march hypnotically in stroboscope light. The appeal “Seid Radikal” (be radical) booms out of the speaker and calls for a world change. The song ‘Radikal’ could really be the perfect chant for a battle.

With ‘Kein Entkommen’ (No Escape), the album moves on with tight arrangements and iconic melodies while during ‘Don’t Follow’, the head automatically starts nodding along to the catchy and minimalist melody. ‘No More Sleep’ afterwards moves into a poppier direction. It’s a ballad reminding a bit of old DEPECHE MODE pieces. At the very end, the album turns industrial again. Hard rhythms, scratching melodies and sound collages reminding of bursting buildings and stomping machines mark the last regular song ‘Suffocate’ before the album finally ends with the Paolo Favati remix of ‘Mortality’. But still the listener is not yet released since the limited edition of the album offers sixteen more remix versions by different artists, like Rabia Sorda, Tying Tiffany, Schwefelgelb and several others.

PANKOW really took some time until the band finally released a new album. But the waiting time was worth it and the band is delivering an experimental, varied album being anything else than boring.


Tracklist

Line-up

Maurizio Fasolo – electronics
Alex Spalck – lyrics
Enzo Regi – samples
Bram Declercq – vocals
Cosimo Barberi – electronics + vocals


Website

http://www.pankow.co.uk / https://www.facebook.com/pankowband


Cover Picture




Rating

Music: 9
Sound: 9
Total: 9 / 10