 |
 |
 |
Artist: THE CNK
Album: L’Hymne À La Joie
Year: 2007
The Count Nosferatu Kommando has always been a wellknown
topic of my wet daydreams. Their ‘Ultraviolence Uber
Alles’ album has already been released quite some time
ago, but still penetrates my CD player at least once a
week. I always thought it was a pity that they only
released one album, because it’s exceptional stuff.
Therefore, I was a happy bugger when I heard the news
that they were reforming a while ago. The Count
Nosferatu Kommando was changed into The Cosa Nostra Klub
(but still The CNK fortunately), and a new release was
coming up! A few happy dances later, the album arrived.
The album kicks off with an instrumental intro (Beethoven
tunes recogniseable in there), to continue with ‘Cosa
Nostra Klub’. It’s a powerful and decent track, with
heavy guitarlines, theathrical keylines and bashing
programming. The vocal lines are fitting well to the
atmosphere and theathrical approach of the track. ‘The
Martialist’ has a more atmospheric touch, without losing
the metal power of the guitar- and vocallines. The
symphonic keylines are again used in a theathrical way,
which fits the track surprisingly well. ‘Total Eclipse
of Dead Europa’ comes up next. It’s one of the more
accessable tracks, with midtempo drumming and very
present keylines, in the characteristic style of the
ones in the preverious track. The vocal lines are
recogniseable, sometimes even catchy, and the guitarwork
is gentle without losing the heavy touch. ‘Vote for
Winners’ is the most industrial track on the record. It
consists of EBM sampling, powerful and straight to the
point guitarwork and drumbeats that leave the
possibility to dance open. The chorusses are
surprisingly powerful, but the industrial sampling make
it fit in the song quite well. ‘Die HolzHammerMethode’
is pretty accessable too. It has recogniseable
guitarwork and drumparts, easy going vocal lines and
some wicked keylines and backing vocals. ‘Dinner is
Ready’ opens very industrialized. What follows is a
dark, powerful midtempo track with both modern and old
school (industrial) metal influences. The symphonic
touches of the keylines fit the track nicely. ‘The
Doomsday’ is a little more powerful, with very strong
drumming and heavy guitarparts. The wicked sampling
hidden all over the track give it an industrial
attitude, while the symphonic intermezzo’s take care of
the theathrical aspect. ‘Inexorable Parade’ is again
more theathrical and symphonic, with atmospheric
keylines and vocal parts. It’s wellchosen as a final
track of this record, since it sounds like a typical
final track of a theathrical play or whatsoever.
When you compare this release to the ‘Ultraviolence Uber
Alles’ release (when their name still was Count
Nosferatu Kommando), you hear some common things but
also some major differences. ‘Ultraviolence Uber Alles’
was more brutal (more black metal if you wish) and more
spastic, while ‘L’Hymne À La Joie’ is clearly more based
on the theathrical aspect. When it comes to the
industrial touches, it’s also more experimental than
‘Ultraviolence Uber Alles’. Lyrically, the old stuff was
more based on war, while the new stuff more concentrates
on sadistic and darkly humored stories. Overall,
‘L’Hymne À La Joie’ sounds more mature and more decent,
which doesn’t automatically mean that I like it more
than their older work.
The CNK has delivered another masterpiece that should be
added in the collections of all you open minded people
out there. Since this album has been released by Seasons
of Mist, it has a way better distribution than
‘Ultraviolence Uber Alles’, so there won’t be any
excuses anymore to not get hold of this... unless you’re
a retard of course.
Vote: 92 / 100
Review by: Gerardo |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
01. L'Hymne a la Joie
02. Cosa Nostra Klub
03. The Martialist
04. Total Eclipse of
Dead Europe
05. Vote for Winners
06. Die
HolzHammerMethode
07. Dinner is Ready
08. The Doomsday
09. Inexorable Parade |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
