Das Ich

The combination of the beautiful and the grotesque has never shared a place so intimately as they do here on Anti'Christ. This album is terrific on so many levels, but most brilliant is how this gruesome twosome juxtaposes soaring orchestral melodies with the distinctively coarse workings of vocalist Stefan Ackerman. The synth lines flow and blip along like an updated version of old Depeche Mode, only to be contrasted with brash, raw, purely German vocals and industrial/EBM rhythms. The anthemic quality of the pieces may hint of Laibach, but Das Ich is hard to pigeonhole. Songs like "Garten Eden" are programmed to perfection, with some of the most beautiful results the dark electronic genre could ever hope to produce. Strings, pianos and even tender moments of arrangements make this a very curious release. The CD just seems to get better and better as each song passes. Perhaps the sleeve photos inadvertently add to their sound as well; the two are never without makeup and emaciation, but the pictures can only reinforce the originality of their music.