Einstürzende Neubauten - Haus der Lüge

As much as it pains me, I decided to censor this album cover because I realized it might not be a good idea to have the original image featured on my social media (view the uncensored version here)

I thought it might be interesting to review another foreign band this week. You might remember that I reviewed the Russian band, Молчат Дома, last week (be sure to check out that post if you haven't yet). This week, I am reviewing an album by a German band, Einstürzende Neubauten. 

Einstürzende Neubauten (translates to "Collapsing New Builds") is a industrial band from West Berlin, formed in 1980. Industrial was really big in Germany, and Einstürzende Neubauten was one of the bands at the front of the scene, even playing concerts with Genesis P-Orridge of Throbbing Gristle fame at ICA London (check out my review of Throbbing Gristle - The Second Annual Report here). Unlike Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten doesn't stick to pure experimentation and noise in their music. A lot of their songs have some semblance of a melody and song structure, and generally attempt to be enjoyable to listen to. That being said, a lot of their songs are TG esque noise too. I purposely picked out this album because I think it is one of their most accessible and least noisy. A great introduction to the band for new listeners. One thing EN is known for is the unique sounds found in their music. They achieve these unique sounds by building their own instruments and using things like scrap metal and building tools to make additional noises. The raw, mechanical sounds that resulted from this quickly became a staple of the genre.

EN's Band Logo

Haus der Lüge (translates to "House of Lie") is EN's fifth full length studio album, and is often considered one of their best. You probably noticed the weird cover of this album. I obviously couldn't do this review without mentioning it. The image is taken from a woodcut called "Group of Six Horses" by German artist, Hans Baldung Grien. Over the horse's eye is the band's logo, which is a weird symbol that kind of looks an ancient cave drawing of a person with a giant eyeball as a head. Obviously this cover art was chosen to be as controversial as possible, playing into the divisive and counter-culture aspects of the industrial movement.

The album starts out with a prologue, "Prolog," which features spoken word broken up by loud, overblown sounds of scraping metal. The lyrics are in German, and very abstract when translated, so I'm not super sure what they are trying to say in this part, but I will give you my best interpretation. I think the singer is reflecting on how they could of resigned to making pop music, becoming famous, and not caring about the people and world around them, but they choose not to. "Don't you think:/ That we could sign/ So to us just one to two percent belong/ And thousands will throng around us?/ Don’t you think:/ We could blast ourselves in ether/ And to the last drops of our beings/ By the packaging be coned?/ We could, but —". They feel that by making this artistic, abrasive music that only a select group will enjoy, they are having a bigger and better impact on the world than if they became super trendy band #1000 and were forgotten in a few years. "Don’t you think:/ We could sign/ Even resign our minds/ And in this land/ (Like nine day wonders)/ Play up and down and back and forth/ To return later on/ Completely stewed/ Long forgotten/ Just turning in ever-decreasing circles?/ We could, but —" As much as these lyrics apply to the band, I also believe that the band intended them to also be about the people of West Berlin and how they shouldn't resign to becoming subdued and apathetic, and instead realize the problems in the society around them.

(Left to Right) Jochen Arbeit, Blixa Bargeld,
Rudolf Moser, N.U. Unruh, Alexander Hacke

The second track, "Feurio!" is probably my favorite track on the album. This song is about a Dutch communist named Marinus van der Lubbe who was accused of burning a Nazi government building, the Reichstag, in 1933, and executed by the Nazis in 1934 for this crime. The song starts with a deep electronic drone that cuts in and out rhythmically. This is eventually backed up with a beating drum and chanted vocals. The melody of this song is catchy and energetic, almost making you want to dance. Einstürzende Neubauten's trademark homemade instruments and tool sounds are used throughout the song to create a really interesting and chaotic soundscape.

Another one of my favorite tracks is "Fiat Lux" (translates from Latin to "Let There be Light"). This is the quietest songs on the album. I highly suspect that this song inspired the sound of some of Nine Inch Nails's quiet songs, such as "A Warm Place" and "The Day the Whole World Went Away". This is because this song has the same quiet jangly guitar sound in the background, and a similar dark, atmospheric melody to both of those songs. This song is a three part musical suite, with the parts named "Fiat Lux," "Maifestspiele" (translates to "May Festivals"),  and "Hirnlego" (translates to "Brainlego"). The first two parts are quiet and atmospheric as mentioned above, with some ghostly vocals towards the end of the first part. The last part, "Hirnlego," is much different from the rest of the song, instead being loud and mechanical sounding. Much closer to the sound of the rest of the songs on the album. The lyrics on this song are once again hard to interperate, but I think the lyrics of the first part are about finding someone who helps you discover yourself, while the lyrics of the last part are about thinking for yourself and not just gong along with everyone else, aka being a "brainlego".

These are just some of the many great songs on this album. I would go through more of them, but to be honest, I'm getting tired, so I'll end it here. I strongly encourage you to give this album a listen, especially if you are a fan of industrial music, or just noisy music in general. The songs are great, and the lyrics are very interesting, if you translate them.

Rating: 7.75/10

Favorite Tracks: Prolog, Feurio!, Haus der Luege, Fiat Lux, Schwindel