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Der Blutharsch * Time Is Thee Enemy! (cd 2004 wkn)

Quite a while after the vinyl version follows the cd. Again only 45 minutes including silence for a ghost-track. A sticker on the plastic promising a video-clip, so now I have an idea why I got the cdr with video a while ago. Too bad, though, since I can’t play the video on “Time…” neither on my dvd player (which plays anything) nor on my computer!! Hopefully the video is the same, so at least I already had it…
To the music then. “Time…” is a natural follower of “Fire Danger Season”. The music is a bit less militant, there is more humour, more cheerfullness, more singing and more guest-musicians. Most tracks are again very enjoyable and Herr Julius proves that he does not want to keep doing exactly the same. Still this cd is not better than the previous and does not really come near “The Track…” or “The Pleasures…”. I can asure you that when you like Der Blutharsch, you will not be disappointed, but do not expect a masterpiece.

Der Blutharsch * video cd (vcd 2004 wkn)

Herr Julius sent me a copy of this strange promo cd with a pack of cards and a poster. I don’t know if it is for sale and since I don’t have the new album yet, I don’t know if this is ‘the MTV-version’ of one of the tracks of “Time Is Thee Enemy”, so I can’t give you too much information. Anyway, the cd contains an *.mpg file of only 61.164 kB, so I suppose it will be available on the internet soon. It is a 3’10” track with a funny bombastic and ‘metalish’ sound. An amusing track for sure. The videoclip -then- shows a party of Der Blutharsch fans. It plays in some kind of hall with people with in uniforms having dinner. Amusing are all the Der Blutharsch goodies. All bowls, glasses, plates, cloths, flags, etc. have Der Blutharsch logos or texts. The clip is nicely silly with drunk people and references to vampire and 50’ies films.

Der Blutharsch * Fire Danger Season (4cd 2002 wkn)

For a long time I have doubted whether or not to buy this expensive box (but there is an even more expensive version). In the end the content proved to be slightly different from what I thought it was and I got a change to listen to the music in a recordstore as well.
So, a little leather bag with four cds. A shaped cd with 20 minutes of unreleased material, which is all nice. A cd with material released on different compilations and I didn’t have most of it, so that is good. The tracks vary from alright to brilliant, but most tracks are actually very good! The other two cds are by different bands who made their impression of Der Blutharsch, either by reworking a specific track or by using Der Blutharsch samples. Some tracks are very recognisably Der Blutharsch, sometimes it is just a track by a project, sometimes a combination between the two. Not only Hau Ruck!-bands as I expected and most tracks are actually very good again! Brilliant tracks by Dernière Volonté and Bearer Of The Inmost Sun. The bands that I didn’t know and which are Hau Ruck!-bands proved to be neofolk bands…
Anyway, expensive, but worth the money. Nice package and mostly very nice music. <4>

Der Blutharsch * When All Else Fails! (cd 2001 wkn/tesco)

The new full-length of Der Blutharsch comes as a digipack and as a double 10″. The album opens with a boring intro, but is followed by a very nice track. Herr Julius had some company this time which resulted in some variation to previous albums. There are female vocals and guest male vocals. Actually, there are vocals in almost every track. The music isn’t as militant as before, but still in the bombastic Der Blutharsch style. Just imagine the sung tracks of before with guest vocals and you have a pretty good idea of this 50 minute album. Maybe not as good as “The Pleasures…” or “The Track…”, but still a pretty good album with a couple of very nice tracks.
And have a look at the new WKN page, but be patient, since it is very slow!

Der Blutharsch * first album (lp 1997 art / cd 2001 wkn/tesco)

Waiting for the new album herr Julius decided to rerelease his debut lp of 1997 that was still released on the ‘label’ Arthur’s Round Table back then. I am one of the 250 lucky people who got a copy of this nice-looking picture lp. It had a very minimal lay-out and the cd is kept mostly the same. The front and back of the picture lp are in the inside of the digipack and behind the cd.
To the music then. Don’t forget that this are Albin’s very first experiments with Der Blutharsch and in the beginning it didn’t quite sound like it does now. The debut is more ambient, rather industrial and only at a few moments you can hear the bombast that would characterise Der Blutharsch’ later sound. One track you may know from the live album “The Long Way Home”.
Anyway, the debut isn’t too good except for a few nice tracks and especially in comparison to the The Moon Lay Hidden album of the same year (“The Smell Of Blood But Victory”) it was completely overshadowed.
I suggest that you buy this cd to complete your Der Blutharsch collection or if you are interested in Albin’s early solo actions, but not if you expect another “The Pleasures Received In Pain”. Just think of the “Der Sieg Des Lichtes” ambient tracks and you will have quite a good idea.

Der Blutharsch * The Track Of The Hunted (cd 2000 wir kapitulieren niemals)

Pretty short after “The Pleasures Recieved In Pain” there is a new cd of Der Blutharsch. When I write this, the review of that cd hadn’t even moved to the archive, which means that there are less then 23 reviews in between that cd and this. Hm, I even see that I wrote that review on 7 march, that is three months ago.
Anyway, in that review I wrote that if Albin Julius would continue to grow with Der Blutharsch as he did between the early releases and the first two cds, he would really become able to fill the gap that fell with the split-up of The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath A Cloud. “The Track Of The Hunted” is not that much better than “The Pleasures…” though. As a matter of fact, I like the previous cd better. Not that “The Track…” is a bad cd though, but it differs quite a bit from the previous one. “The Track…” is more in the old vein, more in an ‘mystical’ industrial/ambient vein and not as much folky industrial. After a few listenings “The Track…” does grow on me and actually Der Blutharsch seems to become the predecessor of a new style of industrial, that I usually call “mystical industrial” myself. Strange samples, singing, quite militant at times and a folky undertone. Also present: an ages old song seemingly found on some old vinyl. All in all a kind of music of it’s own and I like it a lot. I wonder where Julius’ experimentations will bring him next time.
Oh, a last worth-mentioning point is that it seems that Julius moved the distribution of his own “WKN” label from World Serpent to Tesco (who apparently have risen from the ashes). <7/6/00><3>

Der Blutharsch * The Pleasures Received In Pain (cd 1999 wkn)

Yes ladies and gentlemen, there is a new cd by Der Blutharsch. People who have been reading these pages for some more time, will know that this is half of the magnificent (but deceased) duo The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath A Cloud. Listening to “The Pleasures Received In Pain” it becomes very clear that this man also pulled the strings in The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath A Cloud. While previous releases of Der Blutharsch were very industrial, this new cd is pretty dark folk industrial, like the later material of TMLHBAC.
The cd opens with a single violin and then some dark ambient. The second track is a truely magnicent track in the good old TMLHBAC vein, only the vocals are male here. The third track is a bit more militant sounding with singing, a bit as what we know from the first cd. I wouldn’t have blinked twice if I had found the following track on a cd of TMLHBAC. The next one is a totally brilliant dark orchestral industrial track with vocals. This kind of music is quite typical for Der Blutharsch, but also reminds a a bit of the early works of In Slaughter Natives. The cd remains pretty dark after this, with some softer and heavier parts and to the end a bit more folky again. The cd closes off with a long and not too good ambient track. There are remarkably many samples on this cd and it isn’t entirely like the debut. Of course there is no need for that when a cd has brilliants pieces as “The Pleasures…” has!
Between the debut and this cd, there have been several Der Blutharsch releases. A mcd/video-box, a mcd, a live-mcd, vinyls and such. All extremely expensive, limited and not even that good. The two full-lenghts have been brilliant and as Albin continues to grow in this way, he might really fill the gap that fell with the demise of The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath A Cloud. (7/3/00)

Der Blutharsch * The Moment Of Thruth (10″ 1999 wkn)

The reasons that I don’t have all the Der Blutharsch materials, are that I can buy two cds for the price of one of these vinyls, they are very limited (this one has 404 copies) and the material is not the best available. My expectations about the last reason was wrong here. “The Moment…” contains some harscher material than we are used to. Of course there is also some Schlager to be heard. Quite short, pretty good. Well, a minor miscalculation from my side, good that I got a copy.