En Esch - SPÄNK!

Like I really need to introduce En Esch to this audience, he has found success in both KMFDM and Pigface since the 90s, creating a powerful stage persona that led him to his astounding solo career. Alas, he has never been one to deny multiple opportunities in the music field, and began his own band, Slick Idiot, in 1999 after the dissolve of KMFDM.

Anyway, after a successful campaign through PledgemMusic, SPÄNK! has come to see the light of day. 12345 was the first track on the album was released as a single, and was a collaboration with himself and his old band mate Tim Skold. It was enough to get many people's blood pumping for the entire album, and, well, seeing that it's out in two days, let's give this sucker a look at.

Now, on the outside, SPANK! looks great. The humorous look shot to us by En Esch on the front cover and the highlighted red lettering mimicking perhaps a horror film that serves as the title is eye catching. Not only that, but there are other guests on the album such as Guenter Schulz, Erica Dilanjian, MMTM, and others. However, I couldn't find the credits on the album, so I was none too sure where which musician contributed to which song where. Not that that was necessarily a problem to really enjoy the music, but it would have been nice to read about.

And, what we're given in this album is a range of different musical elements from various genres that all sort of coincide with electro-industrial, though some songs tend to stray heavier onto different genres such as industrial rock (such as Do Me). I did read through press releases that En Esch has a unique vocal delivery, and I have to agree with that. Though a majority of times, I'm able to just listen to an artist and compare their vocals to another, I wasn't able to really do that with En Esch. Kudos to him.

I found a problem with a few of the beginning songs, such as Hard On, to be fairly repetitious at parts. Most of those songs lasted longer than six minutes, which is never a problem, but if you can't keep the material fresh and fluid for that duration, then it should end before it gets boring. I was able to enjoy those songs for a while before I got bored by them.

However, that's not too say that En Esch can't pull off a song with a lengthy duration, as was clearly seen within the digital madness of NO GUTS, NO GLORY. A lot of it just dissolves straight into technological noise, but it just paves way for a brilliant track altogether. And, the title track of the album, SPAENK, was pretty glorious, serving in a heavy bassline throughout; and it's three minute length insured a very good track time for the content that was found within.

Now, altogether you're receiving a fourteen song package that lasts close to an hour and twenty minutes. And, well, that's a lot of material as musicians can struggle to break the forty minute mark without their album feeling completely dull and shit-rendered. However, though I did complain a little about repetition with a few of the beginning songs, this is an album that just gets better as you move through it. It has a bit of a rough start in my opinion, but the appeal of each song grows heavier on your heart as the album plays. Their is some awesome material to be found within this album; go check it out. Feb 09 2015