Eevil Young Flesh
You have to hand it to Rudy Ratzinger, a.k.a. :Wumpscut:--oblivious to trends in late-'90s electronic dance music, he continues to carry a torch for good old-fashioned gothic-industrial. He does it so well, it's hard to fault him--indeed, the black-clad faithful look to him as something of a god.Eevil Young Flesh, his fourth full-length, will not disappoint those fans, no matter how formulaic a release it is. The rhythms are solid, propulsive, and infectious; the synth work is appropriately sinister; Ratzinger's vocals (alternately German and English) growl and shout at just the right intensity; and the film samples (sci-fi and porn, natch) are expertly placed. Ratzinger's obsession with death pervades the album (the insert even contains photos of past serial killers), but there are moments of great beauty, particularly on the violin-accented instrumental track "Outside," the military-grooved "Wasted Dreams," and "Tell Me Now," Ratzinger's German-language duet with the ethereal-voiced Lilli Stankowski.--Steve Landau