Various Artists - Russian Industrial Tribute to Die Krupps

Ah, Die Krupps. This band was a world wide sensation (at least in the industrial genre) in helping move along the EBM movement in Europe in the 80's. Now, I have never been a huge, huge fan of the band, needless to say, they are very respected in my book and I hold them in high regard. So, when I saw that Artificial Sun was releasing a two disc compilation featuring a bunch of tracks covered by various Russian industrial bands, I immediately started to shake. Not with anticipation, but with fear.

I have reviewed a lot of Artificial Sun's releases before, and, I must say, that not many of their acts have really broke the sound barrier for myself. Now, of the acts that I did enjoy on the label (that being of Hydra Division V, Chamaeleon, Distorted World, and KaaK), only Distorted World appears on the compilation. Why? Because the compilation only includes Russian artists. There's nothing wrong with showing pride for your country, but this was just bad news to start with. For the Russian artists that were chosen just aren't that great.

I mean, just looking at the artists who've done the covers should really give you a feel for what the rest of the album will hold. Type V Blood, Bog-Morok, Soncesvit, Rosa Infra, and Electric Resistance all make a stand on the album, and none of these artists albums have been very good to me. But, nonetheless, I carried through the fires of this album just to see what it would do to me.

And I have found out exactly what it's done to me. It's made me want to cry. I feel like being a fat, teenage girl who eats ice cream all day buried away in her room wondering why no one likes her. Maybe that's just a bit of an exaggeration, but it's still a good way to describe how I'm feeling.

The first CD in the double disc set is entitled Metal Works, so those of you who are not fans of industrial metal should really just skip this part. It seems to me as if most of the artists on this part of the album got together and said, "Let's make our growling all sound exactly the same, but we should just put in different digital effects to sound a little different!" You should really stay way from the first four songs; they were just terrible. In fact, I just may point out the few tracks I found to be somewhat decent.

The cover of Crossfire by Dexessus male's vocals were terrible, but the female helping along wasn't too bad if it wasn't for the digital effects that plagued her voice. Paradise of Sin was covered by Igolchatiy Smeh, and this song wasn't half bad at all. In fact, it was pretty good. The vocals were kind of faded, and their definitely was a blend of EBM and industrial rock just like Die Krupps would have preferred. It was refreshing.

In fact, I kind of found hope in the covers of Fatherland, Panzertank, and Fur Einen Augenblick. Each one of these covers were done fairly well and weren't just sloppy and painfully recreated songs that made me want to vomit. But, right after these three tracks, more trash is stuffed into our face, and then we hit the second part of the compilation, Electro Works.

I actually found myself sighing going into this second part, knowing it would be a chore to do so. The first track was terrible, so I moved onto the second track which was covered by Distorted World. It's not bad, but I was a little disappointed that this is what the artist came out with. I was expecting a little more from him. Black Beauty White Heat caught my ear fairly well. It's a fun track, and, although the vocals do sound the same as a few others on the compilation, it's the beat that really catches your attention and keeps the song moving. But, other than this one track, the rest on the second half are completely worth skipping over.

Now, if you're going to do a tribute to an influential band such as Die Krupps, in fact, if you're going to be doing a cover on any band that has any recognition in the smaller industrial scene where the fans are pretty connected with one another and are extremely loyal, you better make sure you do the covers right. And this one was just done plainly wrong. There were about six songs that I can say I found good or above, but the rest were just horrifying to me. I am now going to make some raviolis and try to forget about this whole thing, while listening to the original versions of these songs. Oct 17 2013