Savage Cult and German Army are peas in a pod. The pairing of the
Rennes, France, producer with the San Bernardino, California, misfits is an
inspired one. Kudos to Russia’s NEN Records for roping these two together and
allowing them to share some space, one side of a cassette tape to the other.
We know German Army, the tribal-industrial duo ripping the curtain back
on the atrocities committed on a global scale. Sifting through their
discography reveals an annotated anthropological record of Herculean
proportions, each tape and record and compact disc a reminder of
cultures/languages that are dying/have died. The extinction of human branches
due to active interference from others is an incomprehensible evil, and GeAr do
their best to bring awareness of that evil to the forefront.
Savage Cult brings a similarly sinister vibe to the table, with dank,
tom-heavy percussing cutting through vile ambient synthetic atmospheres. His
side A moves effortlessly to GeAr’s side B, and you can really see a theme here
with the tracks: “Ashes at the Gates,” “A Solemn Procession,” “Blood in the
Throne Room,” “A Master without Power,” and “Only Darkness Speaks to Him.” I
wasn’t going to list them all, but then I couldn’t stop. These heavy themes
seep into the music, filling every second with constant discomfort and dread.
As such, it’s easy to love.
German Army does THEIR THING. Every time I put on one of their
releases, I’m enraptured to the point of losing myself in whatever it is they’re
calling out at that point. I often find myself in a Wikipedia rabbit hole or
something. Dear German Army: Don’t ever change.
This split explores World War II–era
Japanese American internment camps through harsh electro-industrial beatscapes.
Always the proverbial “jagged little pill” with these guys.