While 80s revivalist electropop continues to swamp the musical landscape and third generation punk and mediocre indie accounts for a sizeable chunk of releases, properly dark new wave and no-wave music is in short supply. I'm not talking crappy contemporary 'goth' either: I mean the kind of edgy post-punk stylings of the early 80s, the music that went against all that electro-pop stood for.
Precisely for this reason, Cold in Berlin are the band the world needs right now. 'Give Me Walls' is an abrasive, sneering blast of venom. Equal parts Lydia Lunch, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Nymphs, it's spiky, aggressive and kicks ass - hard. You want attitude? Cold in Berlin have it in spades, shovelled out and raked over and riven with expletives: in Maya, they have one formidable front woman. Ballsy and, on occasion, bordering on the psychotic (look no further that the first track, ‘God I Love You’ for evidence), she’s everything you want from an antagonistic punkess – raw, unpredictable, dangerous. These three words could be taken to sum up ‘Give me Walls’ as a whole as it tears an incediary course through ten songs in thirty-two exhilarating minutes.
|
‘White Horse’ is an undeniable, shiver-inducing standout, a white-hot ball-buster of a tune that’s as sharp as a knife and hits like a freight train, while closer 'Powerful Woman' is reminiscent of Hole's 'Pretty On the Inside'; a dirty, gritty howl of grunged-up sludgy punk that whips up a wild, frenzied climax.
Ok, so they’re not exactly reinventing the wheel, but so what? What counts is the fact that it’s bloody good, plain and simple. And besides, I really wouldn’t want to pick a fight with them.
Cold in Berlin Online
|
