Thunderkraft

By Júlio Valada on Feb 6, 2012 in Cd Review | 0 comments

Album: Totentanz
Label: Svarga Music
Tracks: 9
Release Date: April 2nd
Length: 51′ 31”

Riff Score: 8.5/10

Thunderkraft are an obscure act, hailing from the coldness of Ukraine, and they come to finally deliver their sophomore album Totentanz. Even more experimental than its predecessor, this is bound to make some heads stir in strangeness.

It was by pure chance that I got in touch with this album as I wasn’t associated with or even aware of their label. I knew the band by name alone as their debut album had been recommended to me a few times, usually described along the lines of “industrialized”, “different” or just “plain weird”. I’m a very curious person when it comes to discovering new bands from unusual locations or finding something that is hard to be described or nitpicked within a genre tag. I’m a fan of avant-garde and more experimental music and as such I’m not afraid to tread some unusual or unsafe grounds in the search for a new musical fix. So it just happened that in the middle of a few other albums I recognized this name, Thunderkraft, as that weird band from Ukraine that I hadn’t yet checked out, and I have to say that it was a pleasant surprise to let it sink inside my cerebral cortex.

For those unaware of the band’s previous work, The Banner Of Victory from 2005, it was a very weird mixture of industrial music and death metal, working its way to the listener through punishing grooves mixed with a great deal of atmospheric and electronic elements brought about with them. While listening to it now it seems like a very interesting and different take on a mixture of styles that is all but usual in the metal world, with the album being very straightforward and simple in its delivery and always providing for a good flow of the songs. Totentanz builds on that premise and develops it further beyond into a new battle ground filled with a militarized symphonic feel, with a much wider folkloric fabric covering its songs. To say that this album is experimental is quite the euphemism, as the intense and constant duality of the elements being clashed against each other makes up for one of the most varied listening experiences of the past few months.

The album starts bombastically with symphonic arrangements and an electronic take on Ennio Morricone’s “Ecstasy Of Gold” that only lasts for a few seconds before the first grooving hook pulls you into headbang mode with its gravitating force. The vocals follow suit as Amorth starts spewing out his best impersonation of an Ukranian Maurizio Iacono, but avoiding those shrieks he usually does and preferring a more raspy approach that sticks around for his clean singing. The main riff is quite a delight and the song strides along for eight minutes that pass barely unnoticed as this tank roams the battlefield in a victorious marsh with its flag held high in pride. There’s this very peculiar folklore feeling of being a part of something greater than you, a feeling of identity and union as if the old URSS was being depicted here, with the band acting as proud defenders of their motherland. Despite this constant militarized feeling throughout the album the band is assumedly apolitical, yet they do a damn good job of depicting the more Stalinist aspects of the Eastern front. The following, “Mass Defect”, continues the striding march of the furious battle tank in what seems to be a slow motion parade through the rescued villages. You can find constant keyboard layering verging on spacey moments, flute and violin leads, groovey death metal riffs almost reminiscent of Bolt Thrower… I mean there’s even a sampled voice that reminds me of a midfield communication to assert the targets at hand, and it’s all so damn catchy!

The album doesn’t stop to surprise you as the title track grabs you by the neck and commands you to bang your head with its Samael-like use of electronics, simple yet effectively catchy riffs, and a chorus that is bound to make its way into your head. New elements continue to unfold as you keep listening to the album; from the clean wailing of the more epic sounding “Death Won’t Separate Us” and “Towards A New Dawn”, which bear resemblances to Rammstein’s “Seemann” in their aesthetic approach, to the totally weird folk moments in “A Crumpled Story” where it seems like Emir Kusturica & The No Smoking Orchestra were invited to the studio. These completely disparate elements are melded together in a seemingly impervious fashion and you never find yourself questioning why they decided to put that symphonic bit here or that shredding solo there, it all just feels so well put out that it’s hard not to be enticed by the strangeness within it. The production job which was one of the main problems of their debut is found here completely solved as the presentation of Totentanz is absolutely flawless and every element present has a solid place in the mix. It’s a well produced album with a lot of different layers, all of which have enough room in the mix to breathe you gently in the ear and make your head spin.

This album is a victory achieved by a very different band from those found in the everyday panorama of modern metal. Thunderkraft aren’t afraid to experiment and come off sounding totally unorthodox and different. They aren’t afraid of sounding like Rammstein, modern day Samael, Fear Factory and Emir Kusturica & The No Smoking Orchestra, all put together in a blender. For all that matters, and when it comes to the music they make, I think that these guys aren’t afraid of anything really. Their ability to mix different elements is only surpassed by their inherent ability to create really catchy tunes that stick with you way beyond the end of the 50 minutes which compose this album. By being an obscure act and having a rather peculiar sound I’m not sure what reception this album is going to have, but I for one hope that it doesn’t pass unnoticed as it is a great example of experimental music done right. Very much in the vein of what the crazier Czech bands would do, but opting for a different musical baseline than the much favoured deathgrind approach of their neighbours, this is an album that I’m going to keep near me for a while. If you like experimental music then you should give it a try as well.

By: Júlio Valada