Centhron - Roter Stern

Before every review I write, I always delve a little into the title of the album, as with 'Roter Stern'. And when I decided to research the title, I was a little shocked. Roter Stern, Red Star in English, is a symbol representing the communist regime that once upheld totalitarian Russia. It is also used to basically represent fascism and all sorts of negative government agencies that have plagued this world. Now, when I realized this for the first time, I thought to myself, "This is not possible. This cannot be the same Centhron that just recently released Dominator, an album fueled by sexual indulgences." But it is. And the results are astounding.

The album doesn't bullshit around, either, when it comes to it's main theme. It merely decides to Spartan kick you to the floor by blasting you in the face with "WK III", the first song of the album. It carries along the message the title gives off, with lyrics provoking imagery of armies marching and warfare. Even Stalin gets a nice little mention in the song.

The first song also sets the vocals for the rest of the album; just harsh, brutal screaming that is accompanied by fast paces, EBM like beats. It makes for quite a lovely combination for all the songs, even when the songs decide to slow down pace, such as with "Godmachine".

Now, "Godmachine" takes things a little slower than what most of the album did, especially "Fast Blast", whose title fits it extremely well. The slower pace, though not necessarily as good for dancing as many of the other songs are, still had me swaying my head back and forth, between the hypnotizing voice of the almost robotic women, to the actual screaming I've come to know and love from Centhron. However, although the robogirl's voice is very sexy, the song that encourages me to have an orgasm the most would be "Seelenflug im Rotbereich".

You know those songs that you just get goosebumps from just because you can imagine a music video going straight along with it? That's how I felt with this song. From the opening tug boat ring, well, more like a very beaten up and used tug boat, to the point where the screaming is accompanied by almost angelic humming behind it, this song makes the album so much better.

And speaking of angels, there is most definitely a shock right at the end of the album. And that is presented in the form of "Die Galeere". Now, the song definitely takes inspiration from Bach's "Tocatta and Fuege", as the beginning few notes are copied directly from that song. But the rest of it is just pure...Magic. The slow notes and almost angelic singing makes the song to drawing. As one friend described it to me, "It's like the first minute is supposed to fit in with a ballet or opera, and then the rest of the song introduces you to a dark carnival...It's creepy. But good." Gotta love the good kind of creepy.

Alright, so, what we have hear is Centhron showing us all that they have. The extremely fast paced, EBM fueled songs are here, the harshness and somewhat political songs take precedence over the album, and in some cases, you'll find a little sex in the album, just listen to "Dreckstuck". But the good overfills the whole album, and I am not ashamed at all to say that this album is one of my favorites. If anything at all, my dear reader, at least take a look at this album. I guarantee you will not regret it. Dec 04 2012