‘Sacrificare - Collectors Edition’ by Von Thronstahl [CSR82CD]

AND so the new Von Thronstahl album appears at long last, bearing the thoughts and aspirations of one of the more ‘controversial’ artists in the post-industrial underground. The lavish artwork used for the packaging of this album is sure to make ‘Sacrificare’ one of the most attractive and exciting prospects to emerge from Cold Spring towers over the last seventeen years. As huge gold lettering spells out the band’s name, a muscular warrior, ears of corn and wild stallions stand among shovels aligned with the black sun of Wewelsburg. The album comes in two separate editions. The first contains the standard fourteen-track album which runs to just over 70 minutes in length, whilst the second features the same album with an exclusive 15-minute disc. But more of that later. The jangling guitar structure used for the aptly-titled ‘The Age of Decay and Democrazy’ is similar in style, perhaps, to Death In June, but the urgently incessant and endearing vocal layers tell of hypocrisy, materialism, ‘endless discussion’ and social control. Female vocals come in the form of Anna Dyomena and the cataclysmic rumbling and cheering towards the end probably gives you some idea of where the totalitarian control-freaks of the American Empire are leading us. ‘Molti Piu Onore’ has a real Spaghetti Western feel to it and Italian lyrics and trumpets are mixed with militaristic yelps and rat-tat-tat drumbeats to give the whole thing a sense of driving force and energy. ‘Gloomy White Sunday’ features Damiano Mercuri from label-mates Rose Rovine e Amanti and has a very catchy chorus for all those who feel out of step with the contemporary era. In fact its evocative and prophetic lines could have been written by Mircea Eliade or Miguel Serrano: ‘Well, I’m not of this world and not of today’. ‘Occidental Identity’ - which is unquestionably based on The Who’s ‘Pinball Wizard’ - is all about what it means to be European and how important it is to motivate our revolutionary forces and ‘Schlagt alarm!’ (‘Sound the alarm!’). The passionate ballad that is ‘Ganz in Weiss und Ganz in Eisen’, on the other hand, is full of robotic litanies, battering snares, great harmonies and descriptive imagery. Composed in England, this is certainly the best track so far. ‘Dressed in Black Uniforms’ is a rendition of Joy Division’s brilliant ‘Walked in Line’ and personally I do think that this comparatively more varied and powerful version is superior to the one covered earlier by Blood Axis on the ‘Im Blutfeuer’ (1995) compilation. ‘Mother of Mercy’, a possible reference to the ‘Salve Regina’ and something which reveals the group’s strong Catholic leanings, is one of the liveliest tracks on the album and the theme is one of martyrdom and self-sacrifice. Here, among tales of blood and fire, Josef K has the chance to demonstrate his impressive vocal range. ‘Dumnezeu Exista / God Exists’ is equally steeped in religiosity, this time employing Romanian Orthodox imagery taken from the period when Ceauşescu’s regime was tottering amid an anti-Communist backlash. It’s rather short, but charged with a spirit of uncompromising revolutionary fervour. ‘Sacrificare’, the title-track, is mainly the work of Raymond P. and is crammed with trepidation and suspense. Choral voices, orchestral strings and dramatic Latin phraseology are fused into one all-encompassing totality. The ‘HEP’ in ‘Palastina (HEP Version)’ stands for ‘Hierosolyma Est Perdita’ (‘Jerusalem is lost’) and is a famous reference from the time when the Crusaders were active in the Middle East. However, the derogatory term ‘hep’ was also used by German agitators when the country experienced a series of anti-Jewish riots in 1819 and is the root of the phrase ‘hip, hip, hooray’, so no doubt this lesser-known connection will keep the anti-Von Thronstahl camp busy for a while yet. The song opens with Arabesque wailing and the ‘hep-hep’ accompaniment that will leave us in no doubt as to its origins and perhaps this excitable Jew-baiting catcall has now become a reinterpreted anthem for Muslim-baiters everywhere in order to suit the contemporary atmosphere that characterises the so-called ‘clash of civilisations’? I suspect, however, that it’s a display of sympathy for the plight of the Arabs themselves, and rightly so. ‘Undefinierbare Sehnsucht’ sees the return of the guitar and Josef K’s beautiful vocals, this time in English, are full of mourning and lamentation. This is one of the real gems on the album, a bell-laden soundtrack of pain and desire, suffering and loss. The frosty beginnings and contemplative guitar of ‘Berg-Einsamkeit’ works like a musical version of Julius Evola’s ‘Meditations on the Peaks’ (1974). The laid-back English chorus is like something plucked from the Acid Folk era of the early-70s; as tranquil and dreamy as the snow-capped mountains of the Alps, something accentuated by the traditional Bavarian snippet that forms the end of the song. ‘The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse’ is a fantastic cover version of the old Aphrodite’s Child track from their ‘666’ (1972) album. This Vangelis Papathanassiou and Demis Roussos masterpiece has long been a favourite of mine and, combined with Josef K’s own lyrical additions, this song is a real treat and remains faithful to the original. ‘Gloomy White Sunday (Version)’, which is even better than its predecessor, brings us to the end of this majestic album and is a reminder of how good this journey has been. I can’t wait to hear some of these songs live, but for now, my congratulations must go out to all those concerned. Lest we forget, however, the single track contained on the bonus disc is a heady blend of ‘Pessoa / Cioran’, ‘O Quinto Imperio’, ‘Interrgenum’, ‘O Encomberto’, ‘The Death of the Trumpet’ and ‘L’Amour de la Solitude’; all of which represent a condensed version of 2004’s ‘Pessoa / Cioran’ release. But regardless of whether you own a copy of the original or not, this is an essential release for anyone’s Von Thronstahl collection. Keep it up, chaps.