Ján Peter Háber | 09.06.2021 |
A new band on stage is always a joy. Although Carsten Roggenbuck is not a complete music novice. Between 2006 and 2009, he released two downtempo albums as the Redlounge Orchestra. He also appeared sporadically on various other recordings and in groups (Strauss & Roggenbuck). In addition to being a producer and remixer, he is also a cello player. Nine years after the last released album (Rhodescreen – peace system, 2009), the energetic musician from Hamburg, Germany, began composing another chapter of his creative composing life. He dusted off analog synthesizers Yamaha and Ensoniq, which gave an iconic sound to recordings from the 1980s and 1990s. Their sound has been perfected thanks to current computer post-production. After about two years, the album Random Headnoise Paralallax is ready. Fourteen songs with a total length of almost 74 minutes offer a captivating, wild, fast and most importantly horror ride. It will make dance even the dustiest zombie decomposing somewhere in the corner. And uselessly will someone warn you not to move, if you are not careful, you will dance yourself almost to the dead (Already dead). It’s nice to hear harder Harsh EBM in 2021 and almost Aggrotech. It is as if the year 2009 was being written again, when these genres were at the peak of their popularity. Nostalgia will catch your heart and you will also remember older club hits on the tracks I hate you, Komm her, or Die Spinne. The melodies we remember from the many nights spent on the dancefloor come back in a new dress. It’s neither a copy nor a robber. Rather a pleasant refreshment and reminder of everything that all we fans love about the dance industrial. The songs are not always straightforward, as it sometimes seems at first listen. They graduate nicely and change their moods. Rave elements (sometimes the singing was evoked by Scooter) are mixed with Suicide Commando organs. After seven burners comes a break in the song Bionic Transformation. It will delight fans of the classic Front Line Assembly. The calm doesn’t last long, the next Reload truepeak puts you back on the speeding train. When you close your eyes, you will see a blurred vanishing landscape. Maybe you’re waiting for a new (and perhaps electronic) act from the cult Die Krupps. You don’t have to, because Echōdead offers a more unpredictable experience. A crossover that is not so often heard. What the songs have, however, is a perfect, like from a textbook, production. The positions of singing vary from sinister whispers, declamations, through melodic performance to screams. The lyrics full of anger suitably complement the already mentioned horror samples. Dynamic bass lines and uncompromising drums accelerate the carousel to the point of complete madness ending in an explosion. There is no other way. In the eleventh track Before I die, the album slows down again so that the music then rises like a phoenix from the ashes in the soundtrack dress. After more than two minutes, it turns into quieter electronics. This song only confirms another of Carsten’s strengths. And that is the dramatic and truly felt atmosphere. It’s not a coincidence. Carsten Roggenbuck is also the author of soundtracks for several films, he also composes melodies for commercials and television. He also produces music by various other musicians. All this is reflected in the debut Echōdead – Random Headnoise Parallax. The conclusion is pleasant as if a recapitulation and, compared to the beginning of the album, it is a bit slower, but still just as sinister. The final track, Welcome to the Wasteland, encourages just one thing: press the play button again on the first track worldwide. The circle closes. You can play this album at the party, except to maybe three songs, in full. At the same time, it will charge your batteries wherever you listen to it. I highly recommend.