Nachtmahr - Kampfbereit

Love him or hate him, there's no arguing that Thomas Rainer AKA the Supreme Commander and leader of Nachtmahr is at the top of the darker electronic scene. His outlandish performances and military fetish girls have attracted numerous fans and tons of controversy with multiple claims of fascism bestowing Rainer's reign throughout all of these years. With all that said and as much as the whole tight booted, military complex paired with BDSM imagery has been overdone in the industrial scene, I don't think anyone does it better than Nachtmahr. His physical CD editions come with books that showcase more or less a softcore pornography; sometimes I like to call the books that come with Nachtmahr's CDs the Industrial version of Playboy Magazine. 

A few months ago Thomas Rainer released his latest magnum opus Kampfbereit via Trisol Music Group who have shown good faith to Nachtmahr since their inundation to the scene. I can't really remember a single Nachtmahr CD or EP or single that wasn't released through Trisol, but correct me if I'm wrong.  Either way, Kampfbereit is an eleven track album that's full of Nachtmahr tunes and tracks so let's get straight on into it. 

If you've been a long time fan of Nachtmahr who has listened to every single one of their albums since the heyday of Kunst Ist Krieg then you won't find much that's relatively new on Kampfbereit. A lot of the tracks follow the standard Nachtmahr formula of techno/industrial driven EBM with an angry Thomas Rainer leading with vocals. The production is tight, the quality is good and driven, but this is nothing that I didn't already expect from Nachtmahr. I also found some of the tracks having a bit of an identity crisis; they sounded too similar. 


That being said Nachtmahr still keeps his focus on making fun, dancey tracks and he excels at that. I'm sure that goth/industrial clubs in some parts of the world have already taken a liking to Nachtmahr's Kampfbereit due to the beats and the like. And I'm not a dissenter either as I found myself finding a few highlights on the album. 

'Stahlgewitter' had an excellent intro as it slowly rolled into one of the more noisey tracks on the album. It was a good blend of synth riddled chorus segments and darker, stompier verses. 'Tempus Fugit' was also a great instrumental track that kept up quite the pace. The last track 'Unsterbliche' is a lovely acoustic piece with chorus backed vocals. It fit the whole military aesthetic of Nachtmahr to begin with. 

Nachtmahr obviously knows what he's doing otherwise he wouldn't be as popular as he is to this day. His music is catchy and perfect for younger crowds and the like who are looking for a good night at the club. However, I did find Kampfbereit lacking with genuine and unique songs. Rainer's previous releases always had a ton of standout out tracks on them, and this one basically had a repetitive formula to it that could not keep me all that hooked. While the imagery and style has never looked better than before, Nachmahr's latest outing is a good albeit redundant offering in their discography.
Sep 18 2016