Die Kreatur – Panoptikum (Album – Napalm Records)
Genre/Influences: Gothic-metal, Neue Deutsche Haerte, Industrial-metal
Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.
Background/Info: Dero Goi (singer/drummer of OOMPH!) and Chris Harms (singer/guitarist of Lord of the Lost) are two well-known names in German rock music. Both artists met each other in Leipzig in 2015 during a common dj-set and worked already previously together on the songs “Europa” of OOMPH! and “Abracadabra” of Lord of the Lost.
Content: This debut-album contains 15 songs and opens with “Die Kreatur”, an uptempo song that unleashes hell and hits you straight in the face! “Kälter Als Der Tod” was released as the second single and sounds more like a romantic rock-ballad followed by the third track “Unzertrennlich”, a dark song in the more general rock-genre. The dreamy tunes of “Durch Die Nacht” are luckily quickly alternated with “Zwei 100%”, a song that has some typical staccato-riffs and electronic tunes reminding me on older work of Rammstein. “Schlafes Braut” sounds like some kind of dark atmospheric sad waltz. “Untergang” is the highlight of “Panoptikum”, very nice guitar-riffs combined with deep dark voices and a very explosive harsh chorus to bang your head on! The very danceable electronic “Mensch/Maschine” could be a song from an old OOMPH!-album and the piano-parts on “Was Mir Am Wichtigsten Ist” reminded me a bit on Nine Inch Nails. Track 10 “Benutz Mich” is another cool uptempo song with an explosive chorus and tight drums! The calm folky miner-song “Glück Auf!” is undoubtedly one of the better songs because of the nice combination of the deep voices of Dero and Chris, the deep backing vocals and the catchy accordeon-melody. “Gott Verdammt” is one of the lesser songs while the first bonus-track, the very danceable Joachim Witt-cover “Goldener Reiter”, reminded me somehow a bit on And One and on “Algorithmus” of D.A.F. This limited digipak edition contains also two more remix bonus-tracks by Solar Fake and Faderhead.
+ + + : “Panoptikum” brings a variety of different styles including two calm sing-a-long songs, lots of uptempo Neue Deutsche Haerte parts and three danceable electronic songs. The album goes from very explosive to very calm and the lyrics are very well articulated. It also has splendid artwork and was also released as limited edition earbook and deluxe box-set.
– – – : The song “Durch Die Nacht” sounds too much pop/soft-romantic and is in (too) hard contrast with all the other songs.
Conclusion: A perfect first collaboration in darkness between two very talented frontmen. This stuff will please all fans of OOMPH!, Lord of the Lost, Eisbrecher and Rammstein for sure!
Best songs: “Die Kreatur”, “Kälter Als Der Tod”, “Untergang”, “Benutz Mich”, “Glück Auf!”, “Goldener Reiter”.
Rate: (8½) WH.
Artist: www.diekreaturband.de / www.facebook.com/diekreaturband
Label: label.napalmrecords.com / www.facebook.com/napalmrecords
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