Gotteskrieger

There's dark EBM and then there's really dark EBM, and the latter seems to be the territory that this young German band wishes to stake out. One hint is the cover and insert art, which consists mainly of grisly images of knights in bloody combat (for light relief, there's also a picture of a skeleton). Even if your German-language skills are rusty, you might get the general gist of "er zemürbt seine Adern mit diesem pulsierenden Blut," not to mention "der Fleischlichkeit des Leibes löste," and in neither case is the gist pretty. Then there are the cries of anguish, the howling wolves, and the Gregorian chant that are interwoven with the electronic glitches and monster-movie synthesizer on "Die Läuterung," and the frightened children whispering on "Moerder." Combine all these elements with stereotypically pounding Teutonic beats and guttural singing and you've got either musical Valhalla or purgatory, depending on your personal tastes. If you're not inclined to wallow in the nightmarish, you might prefer the subtly melodic "Ich Hab die Nacht Geträumet" and the despairing "Wiedergänger" over the self-consciously death-obsessed stuff that surrounds them.