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Dunkelwerk
Troops

Alfa Matrix

Posted: Thursday, April 20, 2006
By: Matthew Johnson
Features Editor

With its martial snares, sampled cannons, and stark packaging, Dunkelwerk’s first full-length album conjures up all sorts of militaristic images, but make no mistake: Troops is no jingoistic ode to the soldier’s life. It’s as much a protest album as any classic from The Clash or, for that matter, Bob Dylan. As the chorus to the second track goes, “Come on, come on, you bastard/We want our troops back home.” However, as topical as that might sound to today’s American audience, the use of sampled speeches from both World Wars makes it clear that this album is less a political statement on any current event than a reflection on the hopelessness of all armed conflict and a mournful meditation on its human cost. Despite the subject matter, or perhaps because of it, Troops is breathtakingly beautiful much of the time, with the apocalyptic strings of intro “4871 Nord/4448 Ost,” the classically-inspired bombast of “Sternensoldat,” and the foreboding orchestral EBM of “Die Schwartzen Jahre” standing out as high points. The only quibble is that the vocal production on more straightforward dance tracks like “Dresden” and “Underfire” seems crude at times, which is a bit surprising given the obvious care that went into the arrangements. The occasional muffled phrase isn’t enough to detract from the album’s message, though; most of the lyrics are variations on the words “troops,” “fate,” “death,” and “ruins” anyway, and it’s the haunting atmospheres that sets this album apart, not the growled vocals. A startling debut and a masterpiece of German EBM, Troops will especially appeal to fans of :Wumpscut:’s grim spirit and Feindflug’s historical conceptualism.