Die Haut - Burnin' the Ice
(Hit Thing)
A seminal member of the German industrial punk scene of the early '80s, which also included the likes of SPK and Einstürzende Neubauten, Berlin's Die Haut ("the skin") fashioned a dissonant, abrasive, metallic crunch that carried the torch of earlier German noisemongers like Faust and Can well into the '90s. Former Birthday Partier, Nick Cave was on the verge of forming his current backing band, The Bad Seeds, when Die Haut drummer (and future Bad Seed) Thomas Wydler invited him to sing a few tracks on the band's sophomore effort. The resulting assault on the senses includes everything from a blatant rip-off of Led Zeppelin's "How Many More Times" for the backing track to "Truck Love" to a barely intelligible Cave squawking his way through four of the album's mercilessly short seven tracks.
While Cave's participation has driven the cost of the original album to dizzying heights, that doesn't necessarily mean it's any good. For starters, his maniacal rantings and screamings make Johnny Rotten sound like Mel Torme (although the printed lyrics help somewhat) and the insane cacophony behind him will inspire more headaches than awe. All is not completely lost, however; "The Victory"'s militaristic, motorik beat compares favorably with contemporary, angular British acts like Wire, Gang of Four, Joy Division and Killing Joke. But then things deteriorate back into the sewer for nonsense like "Dumb Europe," a mass of moaning noise with no inherent listening value whatsoever.
Proceed at your own risk, but if you are so inclined to add this to your collection of room-clearing classics, be among the first 5,000(!) to pick up a copy and you'll also score a bonus DVD of the band performing live in 1982, just in case painful bleeding from the ears is not enough and you want to risk your vision as well. An extremely harsh and difficult listen with limited appeal outside Cave's hardcore cult of collectors.
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