WUMPSCUT EVOKE ALBUM BETON KOPF, METROPOLIS RELEASE: APRIL 4, 2005 REVIEW: FEBRUARY 15, 2005

This German project was formidable many years ago. With such albums as "Bunkertor 7", "The Mesner Tracks" and "Music for a Slaughtering Tribe", Wumpscut was a force to be reckoned with. Add to this the EP:s "Gomorrah" and "Dried Blood" and you had a body of work which was to be feared. Literally.
But about the time Rudy Ratzinger released "Embryodead" in 1997, I could see the wheels beginning to fall off the wagon. You see, Wumpscut is predicated on the formula of Leather Strip and Dive as the starting point. These are the main inspirations behind what comes out of His Master's studio.
Out of morbid fascination that he was still releasing albums, I chose to review this one. For once, Release received a Wumpscut promo. This album doesn't sound like the Wumpscut of yore; there aren't bombastic overtures, no maniacal symphonic influences are to be found.
What one gets instead is a simplistic, almost adolescent fixation on love. The vocalist Jane ought to find a composer who challenges her a bit more than Rudy does. He uses her voice in a precise, cliched manner that is just plain stupid. She obviously can sing but on "Evoke" she is relegated to simply following along with the syncopations of the "music" as just yet another instrument.
Nothing ever soars on this album. All is quite maudlin; serenely describing pain and little else. "Don't Go" is a mournfully wonderous song until it drags on two minutes too long. You begin to see my view of this album, don't you? And by the way, the lyrics are pathetic. I'd like to take this moment to suggest that if you don't know how to pronounce English words properly, you should stick to your native tongue. You are only embarrassing yourself. And never mind the graphics which are right out of "Dungeons and Dragons". Then it hits me, depressingly, that this artist is pushing as hard as he can, which makes me come to this conclusion: just stop.

PETER MARKS