It's hard to believe it, but it's 20 years since a bunch of crazed, Berlin-based art terrorists called EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN caused a furore in London when they literally demolished the stage of the ICA Theatre during an evening dubbed "Concerto For Voice And Machinery." Said event ("gig" doesn't really do it justice) featured the band getting to grips with pneumatic drills and concrete mixers among other such typical rock'n'roll instruments.
So, I suppose, two decades on, that you could say Blixa Bargeld and co have mellowed somewhat, because while their new album "Perpetuum Mobile" still features metal bashing and Blixa's ghostly vocal delivery ( almost entirely in Deutsch), it also features memorable melodies and - on a few occasions - things that could almost pass for choruses.
Of course, everything's relative, and when you look at some of the instruments and equipment EN utilise here (air compressors, palm-oil canisters, gas burners, electric fans, car tyres and that notorious rock'n'roll staple, the survival blanket - whoa!), you realise how uncompromising they still are after all these years. But to their credit, they've learnt to harness the weirdness to (largely) compelling musical landscapes on this occasion.
"Perpetuum Mobile" is obsessed with flux, movement and transit. Travel and the elements (mostly storms and wind) permeate most of the tracks, and the band have come up with some suitably evocative stuff to accompany these subjects. The title track, for instance, clocks in at an offputting 13 minutes, but the rhythmic tension is palpable, and Blixa's strange, questioning vocal and the huge crescendo worked up by the air compressors is truly stunning, and the ride's over sooner than you think. "Ozean Und Brandung" ("Ocean And Surf") meanwhile, is an evocative four minutes of storms and violence, left largely unadorned.
But Einsturzende do make a few necessary concessions to melody these days, and thus we get the looped, electronic pulsing of opener "Ich Gehe Jetzt" ("I'm Going Now"), the wonky, but attractive electro-pop (really!) of "Paradiesseits" ("Paradising") and the orchestrally-scored "Youme & Mayou", the one concession to English vocals Bargeld makes throughout the album.
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Musically, the band's roles are ever-shifting. The metal percussion is still largely ever-present, but rather more subtle these days, while there's little of Blixa's customary, grating slide guitar (excepting some expressive work on "Youme & Mayou"). However, Blixa proves himself to be no mean keyboard player. Indeed, his Fender Rhodes on the noir-ish musings of "Ein Leichtes Leises Sausein" ("A Whisper Light & Low") is one of the album's major musical stand-outs.
It's a lengthy story, with the album coming in at a testing 66 minutes, and in truth there are moments of tedium. The virtually ever-present metal percussion grates at times ( the stodgy "Selbsportrait Mit Kater" ("Self-Portrait With Hangover") is as ominous and unforgiving as you might expect, and "Boreas" is equally unapproachable) and Blixa's reliance on his native tongue can be impenetrable, though it can also up the enigma ante, so I guess that depends on your willingness to accept a challenge.
Nonetheless, "Perpetuum Mobile" showcases a strange band with a thirst for change moving - mostly - successfully with the times. It won't make 'CD:UK' and I notice the ICA remain reticent to have them back, but it's good to know these curmudgeonly Berliners are still around and still taking chances even as they approach veteran status.
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