Todesstoss is one of the very best at making raw and ….well,
fucked up black metal expressionism. Once a solo project of Martin Lang,
(recently becoming a three piece) mainly consisting of hollow fuzz clouds of gritty
distortion and echoing, reverb saturated, guitar buzz; lunatic rants in German;
and very primitive mechanical, almost industrial, drum machine rhythms that
take the early work of Urfaust and strip it even further down into a cold concrete
bunker stained with blood and reeking of isolation and bizarre deaths. I’ve
been following this guys work only for the last two years or so, but in that
time I’ve grabbed everything that I could starting with the esoteric and
psychotic Spiegel der Urangste, which sounded like raw black metal as heard
through a slow awakening from a Chloroform inhalation, but even through his
incredible catalog there was nothing….and I mean NOTHING remotely hinting at
the horrors that are found on Sauglingshangwerk
Aushilfheins. This album takes horror, insanity, and depravity to new
levels of shock and artistic craft!!!! If you’re looking for a mindfuck…get Sauglingshangwerk Aushilfheins, and if
you’re either experiencing Todesstoss for the first time or are a repeat patron of
the deranged sounds that this incredible act can conjure up, this is the one
that you want to go with.
Sauglingshangwerk
Aushilfheins is the story of a man, J. Black, who works for a company
called Death Inc. and his job is to collect newborn children and execute them,
further along in this 30-minute horror tale filled with macabre German poetry
written by Lang himself, you can actually hear the screaming of infants and the gun
shots of death. The typical psychotic tantrum rants of twisted poetry that are a Todesstoss
trademark are on an all time high performance here, they are really emotional and fluctuate violently and systematically between moods as he is both the narrator and J. Black the
baby butcher.
Occasionally you can hear the basslines pumping and pulsing
through the sinister minimal guitar wailing tone and wall of feedback and
reverb. The song builds up to the middle where it just explodes into this siren
of blood and homicide, it becomes this surreal black metal storm of delicately
placed drum patterns, throbbing basslines of seismic proportion, a diesel motor
rumble and grind of intense sound, and some of the most intense and bizarre
moments that you will ever hear.
This album, broken between the intense and abhorrent title track and the
more darkwave/industrialized “Spannungstrauma X” will definitely rape your
morality. Todesstoss in any phase,
but especially in the trio phase that it has morphed into during the last year,
is like a homicidal mixture of Einsturzende Neubauten Germanic harshness and
industrial improv. with the raw and sonic effects of everything from Burzum and
Urfaust, to supernatural forces and serial killers, more than likely on mind altering drugs.
Even I find this
album challenging to describe, and that’s saying a lot. Yes, the sounds and
subject are generally, to most, repulsive, but the reason that this extreme story is so powerful and
justified is due to the fact that it only takes half of a brain cell to
realize the sentiment behind it. Sauglingshangwerk
Aushilfheins is so great because
it represents a fictitious horror/black humor scenario in which humans are
sacrificed by force, for humane reasons. Black Metal, and metal in general is
not apologetic and neither are such minds as those behind Todesstoss, which
literally translates to “deathblow” in German, a fitting title for this opus that they
put forth.
The second portion of the album is the black
psychedelic monument of insanity titled “Spannungstrauma X”. Fans of the
briallinace of Toil and Hateful Abandon fused with Burzum and Urfaust, with a
heavy nod to SIXX (Devil Doll) and the darkwave influence.
If you haven’t heard Todesstoss, then you haven’t heard the entire
side of the truly insane and wild side of black metal. I’m in the process of an
interview with Martin Lang in the next few weeks, so expect some wild shit to post
and deeper excursions off the pier of sanity with that and Sauglingshangwerk Aushilfheins.
From what Martin has told me, this and the other recent Todestoss S/T are only available through the label site, but don’t let that
hinder you from buying and
exploring, check the links below and YouTube to hear and experience first hand
the sonic manipulation and psychotic power that this band will compromise you
with. Todesstoss is the ultimate challenge between psychosis and sanity,
emotions and logic, and self expression over popularity.
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