Die Krupps

Paradise Now

Music For Nations, 1997

Review by Vlad Levin

With Paradise Now, Jurgen Engler and Company have released an irresistible juggernaut of an album, catapulting them to the absolute apogee of hard music. Die Krupps draw their roots from techno/industrial, but have had a long-standing admiration for heavy metal, as evidenced by their tribute to Metallica in the early 90's. They've shown a steady progression away from the "pure" industrial sound put forth by bands such as Skinny Puppy consisting of mixed electronic sounds toward a melodic guitar-driven sound in which an admixture of the somewhat typical electronic bleeps and piston samples is used in the background to enrich the texture and complexity of the overall composition. While Die Krupps' previous effort, Odyssey Of The Mind, was in its own right a heavy and brilliant album, Paradise Now achieves perfection with the thick layered texture which no one has captured better than Engler and Die Krupps.

The guitar sound of Die Krupps is both unique and incredibly heavy. It steam-rolls over one's auditory senses, effortlessly smearing the listener's brain deep into soft, fresh, black asphalt. The effect is somehow simultaneously intense and hypnotic. In Paradise Now, the sound is utterly without compromise, and the drums pound with mechanical precision as the bass and electronic acompaniment combine seamlessly with the guitar and the always intense vocals straining with the urgency and power of the music.

The lyrics in this album are highly intelligent. There is a kind of philosophy embodied in Die Krupps' songs which deals with the frail consciousness of the individual, tiny and ephemeral, against the mechanical jaws of the world we live in. The politics, hypocrisy, and inhumanity of life are blended in the lyrics with a sense of the wonder of just being alive, in one moment of time. The overall impression is one of extreme complexity, a bird's eye view of the world we live in, everything happening at once, and how easily all this could come to and end, in one silent, apocalyptic flash, at Man's own hand in his arrgance and insanity.

In addition to being very good, this album (in the latter tracks) lends itself to experimentation in all sorts of wacky directions. Given the length of the album, if one doesn't like these tracks, one can always chalk them up as bonuses. Personally, I enjoy the experimental tracks. Great musicians are always willing to have fun with their music even if it means occasionally straying from the One True Path.

All in all this is a must-have album: Heavy, intense, brilliant.

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