Search - Bethlehem :: Schatten aus der Alexander Welt

A more melodic departure but interesting nonetheless

Matthew | Pittsburgh | 01/05/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Germany's Bethlehem is infamously known for their anguished, haunting, and suicidal `dark metal' music. After four outstanding releases of purely creepy, angst-ridden, and monstrously gloomy releases, the band unleashes their fifth and most ambitious release to date, in the way of the double album "Schatten aus der Alexander Welt."In their early years, you would be hard pressed to find a metal band as dark, as eerie, or as haunting - their shrill guitars are embellished by a frigid reverb, the vocals ranging from vamypric grumblings to guttural death growls to frenzied shrieking - all of course twice the more exotic and pissed off sounding having poured from the mouths of a few mentally off-balance though brilliant German musicians! Throughout the course of their discography, the band has developed a sound entirely their own, with nods not only to Black, Death or Doom metal but atmospheric Gothic Rock and frenzied Punk as well. With this latest release, the band merges their varied influences together in a way that is very intriguing. For the most part, "Schatten aus der Alexander Welt" is a starkly beautiful album, with a stronger sense of melody and much less aggression and angst-ridden tangents. Instead, the band's reverberated guitars opt for fluid, murky arpeggios and sad twin guitar harmonies. Rhythmically, these guys are almost crossing over into the Darkwave category, as a drum machine provides most of the drumming on the album. And it is actually pretty danceable! There are parts on this album that remind me of Wolfsheim of all bands, as a result of the swayable dance rhythms and the clean German vocals. There is very little screaming or growling on this album at all; instead the vocals opt for a very melodic, smooth, and clear style, giving the world it's first `accessible' Bethlehem release. Still the music is unquestionably dark, gloomy, and troubled, but delivered in a way that highlights the band's superb sense of melody, harmony, and eloquent atmosphere. Between the songs, bizarre samples and dialogue weave their way into the mix, all of them are very short, no more than 30 or so seconds. The track listing is rather confusing, as there are 66 tracks, but only 9 of them are listed. The weird experimental bits obviously have no title, and the final song is hidden. There is also an entire 2nd CD, which is mostly experimental noise and strange electronic music, that I honest admit I have not paid that much attention to. To me its like this is a single CD. Perhaps the second disc will grow on me in the future? The first disc however is well worth the price of investigation.Ranging from Rammstein like Industrial/Metal explosions to somber, melancholic grace to trip hoppish danceability, the album is all over the place. Sometimes showcasing all of these aforementioned styles in one smoothly flowing track! There is really something for everyone here - from fans of Das Ich to fans of Type O Negative to fans of darker synth pop. It is somewhat difficult to recommend this album, as there are so many different aspects to it. But honestly, it is a much more Gothic album than a Metal one - the metallic climaxes are limited and rare, with a much more obvious emphasis on melody and atmosphere. While Bethlehem have definitely taken a bit of a departure from previous material, the sound is still easily identifiable as Bethlehem - those same shadowy guitars and bass lines that worked their way between the band's harsher moments of the past make up the entirety of this CD.In many ways, it is sad if not a bit frustrating that the people that would probably enjoy this most will mistake Bethlehem as a Black Metal band as a result of their reputation. But I was as shocked as you will be. I was expecting something much heavier, scarier, and intense - instead I was surprised with a dreary, romantic Darkwave masterpiece. I very much enjoyed this album - both from the perspective of a fan of the band's early and more foreboding work, and as a Gothic DJ and fan of dark melodic dance music. This is a fantastic album well worth looking into, and if you have yet to hear the band's early work and yearn to be frightened beyond all belief, you can't go wrong with their debut "Dark Metal" or "Dictius Te Necare" and "S.U.I.Z.I.D"..."