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Stahlhammer - Wiener Blut |
The second album from the Austrian Industrial-metal band Stahlhammer and their first with singer Geogij Alexandrowitsch. Stahlhammer gained some popularity from their first album "Killer Instinkt" and their popular cover of Pink Floyd�s "Another Brick In the Wall", but their lead singer, Gary Wheeler, departed due to a mental illness and hence the recruitment of Georgij. While Wheeler kept the band in a more straignt forward metal direction, Georgij steered the band into a more eccentric and more NDH sound then Wheeler. "Wiener Blut" also brought forth Stahlhammer�s only single, the title track, "Wiener Blut". The song is a strong balance between classical styles and NDH style metal. This came about from collaboration with conductor Renato Zanella, of the Vienna Staatsopernballett. This single and album brought Stahlhammer it�s highpoint in fame, even getting them in supporting acts with well known bands like Rammstein, Joachim Witt, and Subway to Sally.
On to the music, "Wiener Blut" is an impressive collage of many different musical stylings mixed with Stahlhammer NDH style metal. The first and last tracks "Werkelmann I" and "Werkelmann II" are intro and outro tracks featuring a carnival style organ. Wiener Blut shows many influences ranging from rap in the song "Boom, Boom Shake The Room" and their metal cover of "Can�s Touch This" originally from MC Hammer. Also the aforementioned "Wiener Blut" featured prominent classical music arrangements and is based off the Waltz of the same name by composer Johann Strauss. A lot of the songs use Alexandrowitch�s intimidating vocals as an influence for the style. At times it seems that this is the closest the music can get to death or doom metal while still able to understand the lyrics. While Wheelers vocals tended to be higher pitched almost screaming at times, Geogij has a voice similar in pitch to Alexx Wesselsky of Eisbrecher and Megaherz fame, or Der Graf of Unheilig.
If I have any complaint with this album it's the relatively poor recording quality. The guitars often sound somewhat muddled and the drums are often drowned out. Again this album was made on a small budget as any fame Stahlhammer gained came after the release of this album. This problem is solved on later Stahlhammer recordings.
Overall "Wiener Blut" is a strong and well-executed album with many varying styles and to this point was Stahlhammer�s pinnacle of fame. Despite the poor production qualities this is a great album and I recommend it to any NDH fan.
Score:
Hompage: Stahlhammer.org
Reviewer: Lord of Entropy
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