Death In June
Take Care & Control
[NEROZ]
Many people who have visited LARM over the years might have heard of Death In June and some of you might even have heard them or own a couple of their records. Where am I getting at? Some people might have the opinion that Death In June reviews not belong on a site like LARM. Well, they are wrong and here is why: Death In June can easily be considered an "underground" act and their works contain the elements of the questioning of our sick societies, controversial symbolism and attacks on Christianity that many of our beloved black metal bands cherish so dearly. Hell, even some of their latest efforts can in some ways be regarded as rather "heavy". This is one those of those records. All Death in June releases can be considered "dark" but that generally applies to the whole concept. With "Take Care & Control" DIJ treads on a new path where the music itself also can be labelled as [very] "dark".
This album demonstrates the first collaboration between Douglas P. and Albin Julius of Der Blutharsch fame. As indicated earlier this album demonstrates a totally different sound and side of DIJ. With this album DIJ takes on an industrial approach. No, this isn't noise, rather an evolution of the DIJ concept. The music itself displays an incredible depth. You can listen to this album over and over and over again and still find new elements or layers in the compositions. You can hear an overwhelmingly neo-classical influence all over the album, probably the work of Albin Julius, those who have heard Der Blutharsch know what I'm talking about. In short: an electrified bombastic sound reminiscent of classical music and instruments. This neo-classical music is in turn loaded with noise and samples. So picture before yourself electric music sounding like piano and various string instruments layered with traditional keyboard sounds and samples, this must be experienced to be fully understood. The only track truly sounding like earlier DIJ is the excellent "Kameradschaft" with its acoustic guitars.
It is very hard to review an album like this one. I can grade it, sure, but to try to give an in depth description of the music and what it sounds like is almost impossible. What I can say though, is that this is an excellent release. I recommend this to all you people who are into neo-classical or industrial music. Those of you turned of by industrial or noise might appreciate this too, hence it's rather light in comparison to the standard in those genres. Even people who never liked electronic music might find a dark, wicked and enlightening experience in this album. This is in general not a hard listen just very complex. Buy, listen and rejoice.
As for the controversiality: With titles like "Kameradschaft", "The Odin Hour" and numerous Germanic samples you can't possibly go wrong. As for the lyrics, lets take an example: "The November Men" might deal with the subject of the "Kristallnacht", yet again it might not, and that is the beauty of Death In June. On my CD (the reissue of the limited Australian version) the bonus track "Circo Massimo" is included, this track, I've heard, is a looped version of the "Triumph Des Willens" soundtrack but that has not been confirmed.
This album must be heard (and numerous times at that) to be fully understood and appreciated, but when you reach that point of understanding and appreciation you will certainly feel that your mind has reached an higher level, you might not feel any happier but definitely enlightened. This one comes fully recommended and is essential for those of us who want to broaden our musical (and political?) horizons. Yeah, and one more thing, the debut of Albin Julius has marked an end to German spoken/sung parts pronounced incorrectly and THAT is a GOOD thing.
© 2001 herr nebelwerfer
This album demonstrates the first collaboration between Douglas P. and Albin Julius of Der Blutharsch fame. As indicated earlier this album demonstrates a totally different sound and side of DIJ. With this album DIJ takes on an industrial approach. No, this isn't noise, rather an evolution of the DIJ concept. The music itself displays an incredible depth. You can listen to this album over and over and over again and still find new elements or layers in the compositions. You can hear an overwhelmingly neo-classical influence all over the album, probably the work of Albin Julius, those who have heard Der Blutharsch know what I'm talking about. In short: an electrified bombastic sound reminiscent of classical music and instruments. This neo-classical music is in turn loaded with noise and samples. So picture before yourself electric music sounding like piano and various string instruments layered with traditional keyboard sounds and samples, this must be experienced to be fully understood. The only track truly sounding like earlier DIJ is the excellent "Kameradschaft" with its acoustic guitars.
It is very hard to review an album like this one. I can grade it, sure, but to try to give an in depth description of the music and what it sounds like is almost impossible. What I can say though, is that this is an excellent release. I recommend this to all you people who are into neo-classical or industrial music. Those of you turned of by industrial or noise might appreciate this too, hence it's rather light in comparison to the standard in those genres. Even people who never liked electronic music might find a dark, wicked and enlightening experience in this album. This is in general not a hard listen just very complex. Buy, listen and rejoice.
As for the controversiality: With titles like "Kameradschaft", "The Odin Hour" and numerous Germanic samples you can't possibly go wrong. As for the lyrics, lets take an example: "The November Men" might deal with the subject of the "Kristallnacht", yet again it might not, and that is the beauty of Death In June. On my CD (the reissue of the limited Australian version) the bonus track "Circo Massimo" is included, this track, I've heard, is a looped version of the "Triumph Des Willens" soundtrack but that has not been confirmed.
This album must be heard (and numerous times at that) to be fully understood and appreciated, but when you reach that point of understanding and appreciation you will certainly feel that your mind has reached an higher level, you might not feel any happier but definitely enlightened. This one comes fully recommended and is essential for those of us who want to broaden our musical (and political?) horizons. Yeah, and one more thing, the debut of Albin Julius has marked an end to German spoken/sung parts pronounced incorrectly and THAT is a GOOD thing.
© 2001 herr nebelwerfer