Hall of Sermon - Girls under Glass

HOS 7091 - LC 1941

When adding up the number of German Wave institutions, even those who are familiar with the scene are unlikely to come up with many names. On the other hand, Girls Under Glass will almost certainly be one of them, having fought hard for their place in the German Underground Olympics since the middle of the 80’s with such widely differing albums as “Humus”, “Flowers”, “Positive”, “Darius”, “Christus”, and “Crystals & Stones”. With their last album “Firewalker”, Volker Zacharias, Hauke Harms and Axel Ermes not only demonstrated that they have really got the hard industrial electro metal crossovers down pat, but that they are also getting the attention they are looking for outside the country.

Indeed it didn’t take long for these boys from Hamburg to realise that the aggressive rock sounds on the “Firewalker” album not only have a pretty short half-life, but they also recognised that they had moved a long way from their roots and offended lots of their old fans.

During the production of their third Trauma album “Phase III”, which for the first time has the complete Girls line-up doing the warm-up, the band, and also in terms of Girls Under Glass, recalled their strong points from the early days and, still intoxicated by the successful Trauma production, began with the new Girls Under Glass album “Equilibrium”, whose title says it all: with the stress on the atmospheric and melodious elements, which has always established the music of Girls Under Glass as unique, and far removed from any of the trends - and not just on the German music scene - a fascinating multi-layered work has been created that lives from its timeless melodies, atmospheric keyboard harmonies and guitar arrangements, which with their use of sensitive acoustic accents, real drums and bass runs, plus the charismatic singing of Volker Zacharias, evoke that familiar feeling which had characterised the '92 album “Darius”. Much as the band approached the production of “Equilibrium” in a state of mental composure and harmony, the work itself radiates a calm and warmth that is best expressed in love songs like “Roses Of Death”, “Is This The Place?”, “Wings” and “Love Is”, whereas in “New World Order” and “Assault The Future” (with Eric Burton from Catastrophe Ballet as guest singer), just like they did in the good old days they just go out and rock. On “Protean Dreams” they not only achieved a very special flair with the sounds of the sea and the gentle acoustic guitars, but also and in particular with the gothic voice of Jenny Kähler, who the band noticed in the Hamburg group Obsidian and in many of the songs on “Equilibrium” forms an interesting counterpart to Volker’s vocal performance.

Although “Equilibrium” means a return to past virtues for Girls Under Glass, which has really brought out the outstanding songwriting talents of the band, it is ultimately the maturity and professionalism of the excellent production at the end of the 90’s and the use of completely different stylistic devices in their music, which gives the work not only a laid-back note but also one that is anything but boring.

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