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Milwaukee's Die Kreuzen have been blurring the lines between
hardcore, metal, ambience and pop for some time now. Having recorded one
of the prototype hardcore LPs (their self-titled debut LP) and an LP that
heralded the neo-metal revival (1987's October File), Die Kreuzen
have spent the last three years expanding their sonic palette with the
Century Days LP and Gone Away. 1990's gone Away EP
featured a live side which captured the fury of Die Kreuzen's renown live
sets and contained the new studio title track as well as a moody cover of
Aerosmith's "Season's of Wither." The emotionally charged "Gone Away"
combined acoustic and electric guitars with Dan's brooding howl to create
one of the band's most powerful songs to date. Later that year, Die
Kreuzen released a 7" single with which they paid homage to two punk
classics: Wire's "Pink Flag" and the Germs' "Land of Treason." The songs
demonstrate the band's ability to build up incredible intensity allowing
it
to seep and flow for just the right effect as well as their penchant for
grinding and wailing away at breakneck speed while teetering on the edge
of an abyss.
The four members of Die Kreuzen collaborate to create the
multi-genred sound that is hard to peg and always uniquely their own.
Singer Dan Kubinski and bassist Keith Brammer have been involved in the
industrial-esque band Boy Dirt Car who have released three records. Keith
recently played bass in the studio version of Wreck (Wax Trax). Guitarist
Brian Egeness is a master of channelling feedback and generating dense
guitar lines that range from distorted noise to jangle. Erik Tunison's
drumming drives Die Kreuzen's songs along their winding paths while dan's
distinctive yowling vocals and Keith's complex and inventive bass lines
are the most identifiable Die Kreuzen trademarks.
Having fine tuned their new material through national American and
European touring, Die Kreuzen have now emerged from Madison's Smart
Studios and producer Butch Vig (Killdozer, Laughing Hyenas, Tad and Nirvana) with a new twelve song
LP entitled Cement. The new Die Kreuzen material welds the
lacerating feedback of their previous material with a surging melodic
current. The tracks on Cement range from the churning feedback and
rhythmic punch of "Wish" and "Over and Edge" to the beautiful tale of
desperation in "Deep Space" which features brilliant acoustic guitars and
sonorous bass flute (contributed by multi-instrumentalist John Kruth).
Each song on Cement is structurally masterful as the rhythm section
of Keith and Erik generate unique rhythms that lead one up a winding
staircase to new levels of intensity within each song. Dan's vocal
abilities are expanded on Cement as his distinctive histrionics
punctuate the rich roar that rumbles throughout each song to frequent, yet
never predictable explosions.
When musicians as disparate as Voivod and John Zorn
acknowledge a band's influence on their output, there must be something
going on. For the past eight years, Die Kreuzen have been
developing their sound, listen and discover that Cementis the point
where an already veteran and influential band reaches a new apex.
