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Dried Blood of Gomorrha
Totmacher
Remixes
The Mesner Tracks
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Wumpscut produce industrial music ranging from mostly techno remixes through to experimental noise and power noise dance music. Their style very harsh, dramatic and explosive. High distortion guitars and experimental drum cycles.
They are not always danceable and it requires a certain resilience to listen to some of their tracks, but if you appreciate the drama and violence of industrial then you should give them a chance to grow on you.
Wumpscut is the creation of a single German called Rudy Ratzinger.
The albums I review are the ones I own at the present time (2002 September):
- Bunkertor 7 (bunker gate 7) (1995)
- Dried Blood Of Gomorrha (1997, tracks from 1994/1995)
- Embryodead (1997)
- Born Again (2000)
- Wreath Of Barbs (2002)
- Totmacher (dead maker) (1999, double CD)
- Music For A Slaughtering Tribe (1993, double CD, debut CD)
- Blutkind (blood child) (2000, double CD, many tracks from 1991/1992)
- The Mesner Tracks (1996, tracks from 1991 to 1995)
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| Bunkertor 7 |
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| 1 | Open gate | 1.17 |
| 2 | Torn skin | 5.27 |
| 3 | Capital Punishment | 5.45 |
| 4 | Die In Winter (original version) | 4.45 |
| 5 | Bunkertor 7 (German texture) | 4.41 |
| 6 | Thorns | 5.47 |
| 7 | Mortal Highway | 4.42 |
| 8 | Bunkertor 7 (reprise) | 4.55 |
| 9 | Dying Culture | 4.12 |
| 10 | Corroded Breed | 4.12 |
| 11 | Tell me why | 4.21 |
| 12 | Close Gate | 0.56 |
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Bunkertor 7 (1995)
Sold as "Bunkergate 7" in its USA release on Metropolis records. This is an excellent moody dance and industrial album and may be the best all-round album. It contains some excellent stompy dance tracks like Bunkertor 7, Capital Punishment, Mortal Highway and some excellent slow tracks like Thorns and Die In Winter.
The title track of the CD is the track that the media said a pair of teenagers who killed some classmates in Germany listened to.
A different version of Dying Culture appears on Dried Blood of Gomorrha.
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Dried Blood of Gomorrha (1997)
A combination of the albums "Dried Blood" (1994) and "Gomorrha" (1995) both of which are now deleted. The same as Bunkertor 7 it contains some excellent club material such as Black Death. It is less dancey than Bunkertor 7 and contains more gothic and darker tracks.
Some tracks are highly experimental but this album really grew on me over time, it is the first Wumpscut album I bought (in 1998) after I heard Black Death in 2 different alternative clubs in London, Slimelight @ Lektrowerkz and Full Tilt @ The Electric Ballroom.
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| Dried Blood of Gomorrha |
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| 1 | Black Death (french concept) | 5.49 |
| 2 | In the Night (full range track) | 5.10 |
| 3 | Dying Culture (first movement) | 3.26 |
| 4 | Untermensch (adored version) | 4.22 |
| 5 | Body Parts (radio edit) | 4.31 |
| 6 | Crucified Division (desert mixx) | 3.54 |
| 7 | Funeral Diner (red tape version) | 4.05 |
| 8 | Turns Off Pain (recommended version) | 5.59 |
| 9 | Dried Blood of Gomorrha (radical cut) | 1.42 |
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| Embryodead |
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| 1 | Golgotha | 6.25 |
| 2 | Embryodead | 5.23 |
| 3 | Down where we belong | 3.35 |
| 4 | Slave to evil | 4.21 |
| 5 | War | 4.40 |
| 6 | Is It You | 5.15 |
| 7 | Pest | 4.34 |
| 8 | Womb | 4.50 |
| 9 | Angel | 4.21 |
| 10 | Stillbirth | 6.17 |
| 11 | Slave to evil v2 | 4.37 |
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Embryodead (1997) is a truly amazing album. Most the tracks are inspirational. The danceable ones are very bouncy and stompy and the moody and slow tracks are better than ever before for Wumpscut; dreamy and fantastical.
War is a power dance track like no other! Golgotha is the other principal industrial track on this album. Is It You inspired this web page, a tragic story about a dead lover. Some people consider the ambient experiment track, Womb to be silly and immature; even so I find it suitably inspiring and deep.
A very mature and perhaps the most accessible album by Wumpscut (excluding remix albums).
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| Born Again |
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| 1 | Is It You (scintillating mixx) | 6.23 |
| 2 | Womb (born again) | 5.54 |
| 3 | Angel Deejaydead remix by Brain Leisure | 5.40 |
| 4 | Embryodead Deejaydead remix by Aghast View | 6.03 |
| 5 | Golgotha (roughly distorted version) | 6.11 |
| 6 | Wumpsex | 4.01 |
| 7 | Womb Miserable Days remix by B-Ton-K | 4.44 |
| 8 | War (revenge and nemesis) | 6.56 |
| 9 | Man's complete idiot | 3.03 |
| 10 | Thorns (distant vocals version) | 5.47 |
| 11 | Down where we belong (instrumental take) | 3.31 |
| 12 | Embryodead (cockroach modified) | 4.28 |
| 13 | Vaporize (created by Aghast View, :W: remix) | 5.05 |
| 14 | Die In Winter (Haujobb remix) | 4.02 |
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Born Again (2000)
CD of remixes from Embryodead. 3 tracks are new; Wumpsex, Man's Complete Idiot and Die In Winter (which is not included on all versions of Bunkertor 7).
This is a dance orientated album but the original drama and fantasy of the tracks is preserved. There are few shocks and no unlistenable moments as long as you can put up with 2 more versions of Womb, personally I only really like the original.
The remixes of Is It You, Angel, Embryodead and War (a very techno remix) are especially good.
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Wreath of barbs (2002) differs from Wumpscut's other albums in that its more consistent with less of an experimental aspect. It is Wumpscut rock music with less embarrassing or broken areas in the songs.
There are some stompy tracks that get played in alternative dance clubs (Wreath Of Barbs and Christfuck seem especially popular) and sweeter tracks such as Bleed In Silence.
This is the first Wumpscut album I found that has a cover of a song -- Eclipse is a cover of a Kirlian Camera track by the same name.
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| Wreath of barbs |
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| 1 | Opening the gates of hell | 4.08 |
| 2 | Deliverance | 4.42 |
| 3 | Wreath of barbs | 5.22 |
| 4 | Dr. Thodt | 4.42 |
| 5 | Mankind's disease | 5.08 |
| 6 | Christfuck | 5.24 |
| 7 | Troops under fire | 4.56 |
| 8 | Line of corpses | 4.39 |
| 9 | Hate is mine | 4.25 |
| 10 | Bleed in silence | 5.56 |
| 11 | Eclipse (original version by Kirlian Camera) | 5.12 |
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Totmacher Remixes (1999) . Packaged as "Dead Maker" in its USA release on Metropolis records. It is a double CD of excellent remixes of the relatively mediocre track, 'Totmacher'.
Both CDs have a track inserted in between every song -- a short snippet of a despairing guy breathing/dying and muttering a bit in German.
Features a remix by VNV Nation which is the nastiest track ever produced by VNV Nation, and is my favorite track on this album, it includes some drum 'n' bass elements and noise very alien to ordinary VNV Nation tracks. Even more extreme than Structure by VNV Nation on their 2002 album Futureperfect.
My favorite remixes are those of Haujobb, VNV Nation, Fav, B-Ton-K and Noyce.
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| Totmacher Remixes by: |
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| 1 | Wumpscut (original version) | 4.20 |
| 2 | Forma Tadre | |
| 3 | Covenant | |
| 4 | Haujobb | 6.04 |
| 5 | Cleen | |
| 6 | Notstandskomitee | |
| 7 | Suicide Commando | |
| 8 | Infact | |
| 9 | VNV Nation | 4.43 |
| 10 | Fav | 3.52 |
| 11 | B-Ton-K | 4.19 |
| 12 | Jugend Staat/Death Industry | |
| 13 | Infact | |
| 14 | Puls/KK | |
| 15 | Notstandskomitee | |
| 16 | Dr. Mabuse | |
| 17 | Aghast View | |
| 18 | Noyce | 4.42 |
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| Music for a slaughtering tribe |
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| 1 | Soylent Green | 6.02 |
| 2 | Fear In Motion | 3.11 |
| 3 | Concrete Rage | 4.17 |
| 4 | Bleed | 2.42 |
| 5 | Koslow | 3.30 |
| 6 | On the run | 4.08 |
| 7 | Believe in me | 5.55 |
| 8 | She's Dead | 5.08 |
| 9 | Rotten Meat | 3.45 |
| 10 | Float | 1.44 |
| 11 | Default | 3.31 |
| 12 | My life | 2.20 |
| 13 | The day's disdain | 5.27 |
| 14 | Dudek | 3.55 |
| CD 2 (remixes) |
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| 1 | Soylent Green (by Brain Leisure) | 11.31 |
| 2 | Soylent Green (by Haujobb) | 9.53 |
| 3 | Fear In Motion (by Haujobb) | 6.27 |
| 4 | Fear In Motion (by Renyl) | 4.45 |
| 5 | She's Dead (by Kirlian Camera) | 6.16 |
| 6 | Dudek (by Brain Leisure) | 5.07 |
| 7 | Default by Aghast View | 4.22 |
| 8 | Float (by Dive) | 2.39 |
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Music for a slaughtering tribe (1993, double CD)
Contains several ambient electronic tracks with zero danceability such as Believe in me, She's Dead, Rotten Meat, Float, My life and The Day's Disdain; but are great to sit in a dark room and brood over. Some of these are a bit pointless, similar to some of the ones compiled from 1991 and 1992 on Blutkind. Some very noisy tracks like Bleed.
Some excellent industrial dance tracks such as Soylent Green, Fear In Motion, Koslow, On The Run and some amazing gothic industrial tracks like Fear In Motion (fascinating dominant female vocals). As this is Wumpscut there is a high power noise element in most these tracks.
The double CD version was released in 2000 (or something), adding the remix CD. Of particular note is the Kirlian Camera remix, combining them with a Wumpscut track has produced something close to the dramatic fetish electronic sounds of Die Form. Note that on my copy of this CD most of the track titles were printed in the wrong order.
This CD is most similar to BlutKind; these probably aren't the first Wumpscut CDs you'd want to buy but they're worth it for the concept tracks such as Fear In Motion, Soylent Green and their other highlights.
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Blutkind (2000) . I've seen this sold as "Blood Child", probably a USA version. Double CD.
Some tracks are taken from Wumpscut's original demo tapes in 1991 and 1992 and some are remixes from Music for a slaughtering tribe. There are also 17 or so previously unreleased old tracks.
Hang Him Higher and Praise Your Fears are 2 new tracks (2000) and are both excellent gothic industrial tracks.
The original tapes are: "Defcon" and "Small Chambermusicians". Many other tracks from these tapes and early Wumpscut are collected on The Mesner Tracks CD that I don't own.
Remixes from Music for a slaughtering tribe are: Koslow, Soylent Green and Default.
Whilst there are some excellent tracks here there are also some ones I can hardly stand! Such as Tschuesch Domos and Zech Groove (the last 2 tracks).
It comes in a sturdy double CD case with a booklet inside with a list of Wumpscut albums and some pages of text about Wumpscut.
Also one of the tracks is a multimedia program to run on Macs or PCs.
Many of these tracks are ambient electronic soundscapes; not spooky but haunting. Romantically imaginative and dreamy, but some of them seem pointless and uninspiring.
Some fantastic and inspiring ambient ones include To The Sky, March of the crying and the remix of Soylent Green (which has the vocalist removed, but the provocative samples from the film of the same name still remain).
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| Blutkind |
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| 1 | Hang Him Higher | 6.02 |
| 2 | Koslow (First Take) | 3.19 |
| 3 | Anaesthetics | 3.42 |
| 4 | Time Ticks Away | 3.15 |
| 5 | Stomp | 2.16 |
| 6 | Flangegod | 4.21 |
| 7 | Irak1 (First Take) | 4.11 |
| 8 | Irak1 (Second Take) | 4.15 |
| 9 | Logic Of War | 2.21 |
| 10 | Crucified | 3.50 |
| 11 | Neolith | 4.14 |
| 12 | Pornography | 4.20 |
| 13 | The Hellion | 4.03 |
| 14 | Run like hell part 1 | 3.23 |
| 15 | Run like hell part 2 | 3.04 |
| 16 | Soylent Green (instrumental take) | 6.12 |
| 17 | Default (Alternative mix) | 2.26 |
| CD 2 |
|---|
| 1 | Multimedia track | |
| 2 | Praise Your Fears | 5.10 |
| 3 | The Dark Chamber | 4.20 |
| 4 | Frozen Images | 5.20 |
| 5 | Phase Shifter | 3.38 |
| 6 | Throbberstalk | 4.16 |
| 7 | Clinics | 1.38 |
| 8 | K-u-t-t | 4.26 |
| 9 | Equal Eye | 4.12 |
| 10 | Slovakian Hell | 4.44 |
| 11 | March of the crying | 3.20 |
| 12 | Irak2 | 4.47 |
| 13 | To The Sky | 4.47 |
| 14 | Eternal | 3.03 |
| 15 | Lamandier | 1.35 |
| 16 | Tschuesch Domos | 3.15 |
| 17 | Zech Groove | 3.39 |
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| The Mesner Tracks | Originally released on: | Created: |
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| 1 | Overtures (remastered) | 1.34 | Andromeda:the spectral compilation | 1993 |
| 2 | Mother (maternal instinct) | 8.37 | We came to dance 6 | 1994 |
| 3 | Ain't it mad, yet (b-mix) | 3.24 | The Oma Thule Single | 1994 |
| 4 | War combattery (fixed) | 4.54 | Taste this 1 | 1994 |
| 5 | Lindbergh (ocean part) | 4.05 | New forms of entertainment volume 1 | 1992 |
| 6 | Black Death (muted concept) | 4.52 | Sion fortune sampler volume 4 | 1995 |
| 7 | In the night (remastered) | 4.29 | We came to dance 5 | 1994 |
| 8 | Running Killer (remastered) | 4.14 | previously unreleased (:W:) | 1991 |
| 9 | Crate (t-1 theme, voiceless) | 2.45 | reynir/tilarids | 1993 |
| 10 | uk decay (remastered) | 2.35 | elektrauma 1 | 1993 |
| 11 | Cold cell (remastered) | 3.19 | Andromeda:the spectral compilation | 1993 |
| 12 | Cry weisenstein cry (maxmix) | 4.22 | Small Chambermusicians (:W:) | 1992 |
| 13 | Tell me why (first takes) | 3.59 | Bunkertor 7 (:W:) | 1995 |
| 14 | Ceremony (remastered) | 4.00 | New forms of entertainment volume 1 | 1991 |
| 15 | Jesus Gone (remastered) | 11.07 | Small Chambermusicians (:W:) | 1992 |
The Mesner Tracks is a high quality collection of tracks and remixes not released on Wumpscut's main albums. The entire album is dark EBM, electronic light industrial with very few vocals. The album's main style is large, dramatic themes and sweeping, emotional electronic soundscapes puncture by occasional industrial dance tracks.
Different versions of Black Death and In the night appear on Dried Blood of Gomorrha but its great to hear the earlier version of Black Death. The second half of this CD is ambient dark electronic, with samples and drum machines in places. It's all very atmospheric, chilling in places, but is excellent to listen to and better than all the ambient stuff on other compilations such as Blutkind.
The best track is Mother, a light industrial track which anti-explodes into a highly emotional and introspective affirmation of love for mother, "I love you, I love you forever".
By Vexen Crabtree 2002 July 23
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