A Challenge of Honour

THIS is a brave attempt to deal with one of the forgotten injustices of the Second World World. The Wilhelm Gustloff - named after an NSDAP officer in Switzerland who had been assassinated in 1936 - was a hospital ship built under the direction of the Kraft durch Freude (Strength Through Joy). In fact the liner itself was the flagship of the entire KdF organisation, and contained a vast array of restaurants, ballrooms and other leisure facilities. One thing the Wilhelm Gustloff clearly was not, is a war ship.

Indeed, although her final westward voyage from the Baltic port of Gotenhafen was designed to enable 10,582 sick and wounded German soldiers and civilian refugees to escape the Soviet advance, she was torpedoed by a Russian S-13 U-boat. Armed with nothing but a handful of anti-aircraft guns, the Red Cross vessel was virtually defenceless and on January 30th, 1945, a total of 9,343 men, women and children perished in the freezing waters of the Baltic Sea in less than 50 minutes. Somehow, 1,239 survivors - including a one year-old child - were rescued by a number of German ships in the area. The fact remains, however, that the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff is one of the greatest naval tragedies of all time.

This musical tribute by Peter S. & Johan K. was originally released as a six-track CD-R back in March 2001, but has since been expanded with the addition of a futher seven tracks each composed by Peter S. working on his own. Peter has already built up a good reputation from his previous work with Above The Ruins and Materialschlacht, and there is little doubt that this interesting concept album will help to further improve that reputation. The album quickly unfolds in Wagnerian fashion and the 'Introduction' whisks us off to the bridge of the Wilhelm Gustloff, where the German crew are confirming the time and their exact position. Incidentally, the soundtrack throughout this album has been heavily borrowed from Frans Wisbar's 1959 disaster film, 'Nacht Fiel uber Gotenhafen'.

The second track, '1938', is a blend of hammering metal and the steady blast of a ship's funnel. It's powerful and rhythmic. You can imagine the Wilhelm Gustloff cutting an imposing swathe through the ocean at the peak of her prime and towards the end we even hear the voice of a German actress ceremoniously naming the ship. 'Volkerwanderung' is an eclectic cocktail of whistles, voice samples, German marches, repetitious pounding and orchestral improvisation. And like the 'Introduction', very powerful and imposing. For the 'Departure' we return briefly to the bridge, and then find ourselves besieged by yet more blasts from the ship's whistle alongside the sound of crashing waves and a raging storm. The night of January 30th, 1945, was full of appalling weather conditions and it must have had an awful effect on both crew and passengers alike. At the beginning of 'Torpedos' the rain continues to lash down, but then the underwater beeps of a Russian submarine are brought into play. Suddenly, a drumroll begins and a fierce explosion can be heard. An operatic chant begins as a captain barks out his orders in quick succession and metallic hatches clang away in the background. And whilst the ship may indeed seem 'So Gross Wie Die Ganze Welt', it is not - as the victrims of the Titanic found to their cost over twenty years earlier - unsinkable. A woman expresses concern at the number of children on board, their screams and sobs rising to a crescendo. The resignated tones of a harmonica drift on the wind, the only constant in a sea of heartache and terror.

'Heiliges Feuer' marks the beginning of the eleven tracks added to the original recording by Peter S.. Here the music becomes more keyboard-oriented, with the rumbling drums being joined by Peter's sung vocals in typical neo-folk vein. This is concluded with a solitary drum. 'Ehret Leben', on the other hand, switches to a German brass band and sounds like a cross between an SS marching song and the Oktoberfest. Soon, however, the band disappears altogether and the dramatic horn-section and immense drums used on the album's earlier tracks return in force. It's difficult to say whether this piece is designed to express the awesome power of the Wilhelm Gustloff or the cataclysmic events which sent her to the bottom of the ocean on that fateful winter's night.

'Only Stones Remain' is an instrumental and highly accessible. The use of an acoustic guitar and militaristic snare accompaniment is very similar to Death In June and Harvest Rain. Nothing special, but rather listenable all the same. 'Feux/Fire' is also described on the album as an instrumental, but is preceded by an English voice sample recalling the war in heaven, the descent of Lucifer and the creation of hell. The music is like a choir of discordant angels singing in disharmony. This could represent the flaming hell of a burning ship or a Soviet crew consigned to the fires of Hades for their gratuitous act of cowardice. 'Ritual Suicide' is a strange title for an album which concerns the deliberate sinking of a non-military vessel. The slap of a tambourine and tribal drums makes this sound like a Jesus Army day-trip to the Lower Congo. And then some long drawn-out chords on the keyboard create a rasping undercurrent for a shimmering hall of ringtones. The voice of wartime hypocrisy, Winston Churchill, can be heard lamenting the rise of Hitler as though he were the sole cause of everything. 'Das Blut Der Helden' is a tribute to the vanquished. It begins unobtrusively, like the calmest sea on the whole album. But as the lone whistle and chirping echo give way to a slow drum, the waters are churned back into a maelstrom for the thumping finale. The biblical theme returns with 'The Archangel (Part Two)', a haunted mini-symphony yanked backwards through Karl Orff's letterbox. Finally, 'Havamal' starts off like a wavering Crowleyesque recitation and then drifts along melodically on a fluttering piano. The vocal sample used in this piece is very eerie indeed. A husky Freya Aswynn meets the dwarf from David Lynch's 'Fire Walk With Me'. Generally, this album is very good indeed, although the second half of the CD does tend to drift away from the overal theme concerning the abortive voyage of the Wilhelm Gustloff and should have been released on its own merits. But the only real criticism I would make about it relates to the poor English which appears in the sleeve notes, although on reflection I suppose that it does give the whole package a more authentic flavour. The recording also improves the more you play it, particularly if you're prepared to turn up the volume and go with it. Full steam ahead!