WERKRAUM

"Unsere Feuer Brennen!" (reissue)

Cold Spring - 2009

CD

Cold Spring reprints Werkraum's long sold out debut CD, released in 2004 in a limited edition of 1000 copies. The new edition comes in unlimited number and standard jewelcase, while the artwork has been changed from the original white and gold to a more austere and effective black and gold. Two bonus tracks have been added: the excellent contribution to the by now legendary "Wir Rufen Deine Wölfe" compilation, and the crepuscular "Blutsommerland", originally appeared on another limited sampler, the 2x10" "Eternal Soul". If compared to the recent, acclaimed "Early Love Music", Werkraum's first output is a quite different story, still related to the original neofolk / industrial environment where the project was born, nonetheless the album still stands on its own pretty well, and far superior to many more celebrated names in the scene.

The songs can be divided into two different branches: the acoustic martial ballads on one side, and the dark electronic ceremonies on the other. In the first rank we can put "Die Letzte Jagd", the excellent and epic "Steh Auf, Nordwind!", the gentle "Chanson De La Plus Haute Tour" and "Hohezeit" (sung by Antje Hoppenrath, preview of things to come), and, most of all, the hymn "Heilige Krieg", thundering and haunting masterpiece already met in a different, rawer version many years ago on the obscure Thaglasz samplers. In the second category we find opening "Nocturne", "Dignitas Dei", "Einsamernie" and "Civitas Dei", sacral electronic rituals conjured by space keyboards, loops and distant, mesmerizing voices, still reminding of Werkraum's remote industrial (if not kraut) origins.

Five years after its release, "Unsere Feuer Brennen!" is still a remarkable work, maybe less surprising than its followers, yet of unquestioned quality and inspiration. Extremely recommended to any demanding neofolk fan who isn't appeased with the same old stuff.

- Simon V.

Website: http://www.werkraum.org

Myspace: http://myspace.com/werkraum

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