:Wumpscut: - Siamese

Title: Siamese
Artist: :Wumpscut:
Genre: Industrial Electro
Release Date: 16th April 2010
Label: Betonkopf Media (Germany) / Metropolis Records (US)



Album Review

Is it really necessary to present :WUMPSCUT: here? Directly inspired by FRONTLINE ASSEMBLY, the DJ Rudy Ratzinger founded this electro industrial project in 1991. After the success of ‘Music for a Slaughtering Tribe’ - and the famous ‘Soylent Green’ - he divided his artistic time producing young Electro-Goth bands, and his own things. :WUMPSCUT: tried several genres through the years, between dark ambient, dark electro industrial and aggrotech. Since he never makes live shows, he releases a lot of albums and only one year after ‘Fuckit’, :WUMPSCUT: releases ‘Siamese’.

The experimental ‘Fuckit’, excellent album, deep and very emotional, reconciled the fans rather disappointed by ‘Schädling’ with the band. It was rather foreseeable that the project would turn to something less experimental. And from the start, ‘Falling from Lucifer's Grace’ puts ‘Siamese’ in the line of the more violent albums that Rudy Ratzinger released. The music and the singing are quite hard, approaching the aggrotech of ‘Embryodead’ even though ‘Siamese’ belongs to the more recent albums, which means software only. What however makes the quality of the track comes from the metal guitars, like the good ‘Black Death’. The sound line thus seems to differ from what usually makes the :WUMPSCUT: touch and it is just hell good.

‘Boneshaker Baybee’ - nothing to do with ALIEN SEX FIEND - confirms this feeling: the track has the dancing side and the violent one of ‘War’. The song completely inherits from the very good ‘Wreath of Barbs’. The lyrics constitute a real small jewel of humour and the transitions are smooth in the middle of a noisy unit. In its globalism, the title is very dancing, totally awesome. After this foretaste, ‘Siamese’ does not disappoint. The melody is pleasant - the baby tears were maybe not necessary, and the lament touches the soul: “don't be a part of me”. To conclude for this song, it's a very good track about control, followed by an astounding instrumental one, ‘Ziribit’, which is not especially original but which shows a perfect rhythm section.

‘Auf Wiedersehen im Massengrab’ breaks this movement: if the subject is interesting, the treatment approaches what we already heard and heard from :WUMPSCUT:. The song is however saved by the notes of keyboard and the dark beats which remind to us that Rudy Ratzinger is sometimes a very good ambient composer. ‘Teufelszeug’, in German, is just traditional :WUMPSCUT: and declines the infernal motif. The following song, ‘Bam Bam’, begins with a dark transition: “Wir haben die Herrlichkeit, um das Fleisch kennen zu lernen” (“we have the magnificence to get to know the flesh”). The song appears like the title: punchy and violent. Still punchy, ‘Loyal to My Hate’ offers a good melody but the production disappoints by its déjà-vu side, this is the case for the lyrics too.

On the contrary, the lyrics of ‘Blood Stigmata’ are brilliant, like the ‘Fuckit’ ones. The track is rather old school and perfectly works: ‘Blood Stigmata’ is one of the best songs of the album, without any hesitation. ‘Killuh’ closes the album on a mystical touch. After an introduction close to GARY NUMAN, feminine voices interpose as on ‘Evoke’, initially via choruses, then by Spanish incantations. The album thus does not disappoint. If it is not really surprising in the career of :WUMPSCUT:, more than half tracks are really very good and their atmospheres recall the best days of the musical project. Where several songs (‘Loyal to My Hate’) sound too familiar, others are delightfully dark (‘Blood Stigmata’) and ‘Siamese’ is at least an interesting and pleasant album.


Tracklist
06. Teufelszeug
07. Bam Bam
08. Loyal To My Hate
09. Blood Stigmata
10. Killuh


Line-up

Rudy Ratzinger - production / composition / vocals


Website

http://www.wumpscut.com/ / www.myspace.com/wumpscut


Cover Picture




Rating

Music: 7
Sound: 8
Total: 7.5 / 10


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