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Lacrimosa: Revolution
12/12/12 || Cobal
Lacrimosa is one of those acts that polarize opinions around the globe, and particularly in my country where their hardcore fans base is only comparable to the number of haters they also have, all this at an underground level, if you know what I mean. Knowing that with anticipation, I decided to write this review as I consider them to be one of the most remarkable music acts from the last two decades.
Yes, I’m well aware the metalness might be an issue here, and no, I don’t even wanna go to that pointless argument. Let me put it this way, it’s independent professional gothic music with enough metal elements to be considered as part of our domination, period. Along the years, Lacrimosa evolved from a one man act, to a duo with session musicians, to something that now resembles a band with a wider core. That’s the way I see it, anyway.
Their music has also unfolded from regular German darkwave, to neoclassical music, to gothic rock with symphonic and industrial metal elements that are more or less present depending on the album you listen to. Something that has been notorious about Tilo Wolff – founder, frontman and main composer and lyricist – is how he has managed to write about a dozen albums that can be perfectly distinguishable from one another, and at the same time, they are all identifiable as Lacrimosa’s music.
Now, “Revolution” is for me the album that definitely – hopefully – incorporates all styles that Tilo and company have used since the very beginning. They’re all there and fortunately but not surprisingly, they all have been elegantly included in a flawless blending of exquisite contemporary music. That’s the difference between a songwriter and a composer, you know.
Musically, “Revolution” is truly trippy going from dark melancholic tunes with whispered lyrics to catchy industrial riffage in which vocals reach the growling intensity level. As usual, the production is neat and clear; all the instruments and effects are there to be detected, each one in their righteous place. Frankly, this work is so varied that I would need to review it song by song in order to fully depict it.
As for the vocal work, Lacrimosa have normally displayed the vocal duo that’s the most inner core of an of their works: Tilo with his most peculiar style of singing/screaming and sometimes even growling, and Anne Nurmi, who also carries out the duties behind the keyboards, singing clean and delicate female vocals. Again, this works for – always has – the record to keep on surprising the listener as it goes on.
Along the years, Lacrimosa has been careful at developing a visual concept that is now a trademark: the harlequin. Not only as a graphic part of their logo, but also being put in different situations on the cover of most of their albums working as some type of pet/icon of the band. This time, the good old harlequin stands on top of the ruins of a city holding a flag with a defiant attitude. In a moment when around the world marches and demonstrations happen daily in the biggest cities, I think the cover of this album is most appropriate.
Summing up, “Revolution” fulfilled almost all my expectations as THE new album by these guys. Being such a rich mix of music styles, it could have been a little longer, you know. 54 minutes are not enough to thoroughly develop such a large musical idea and it feels in a rush, if you ask me. A double album could have been the solution, but what are you gonna do, right? By the by, apparently Mille Petrozza from Kreator and Stefan Schwarzmann from accept were involved in giving birth to this beast as session musicians. Cheers.
- Information
- Released: 2012
- Label: Hall Of Sermon
- Website: www.lacrimosa.ch
- Band
- Tilo Wolff: vocals
- Anne Nurmi: vocals, keyboards
- Jay P Genkel: guitars
- Henrik Flyman: guitars
- Yenz Leonhardt: bass
- Manne Uhlig: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Irgendein Arsch Ist Immer Unterwegs
- 02. If The World Stood Still A Day
- 03. Verloren
- 04. This Is The Night
- 05. Interlude – Feuerzeug (Part 1)
- 06. Feuerzeug (Part 2)
- 07. Refugium
- 08. Weil Du Hilfe Brauchst
- 09. Rote Sinfonie
- 10. Revolution
