MEKANÏK DESTRUKTÏW KOMMANDÖH

The end of the previous album, 10000 Centigrades, saw some Kobaians imprisoned on Earth and later released, after they arrived there in an attempt to impart their knowledge and way of life. MDK tells a story of a man named Nebehr Gudahtt, who took on board the teachings of the Kobaians visit and preaches it to the masses, with slow success, prophesizing doom without purification and communication with the divine Kreuhn Kohrman.

The period of time between 10000 Centigrades and MDK i.e. between the Kobaian visit and the eventual embracing of Nebehr Gudahht's teachings, is the 'Theusz Hamtaahk', meaning Time of Hatred. MDK is the third album of the Theusz Hamtaahk trilogy, although the first to be released.

The other parts of the trilogy? Preceeding MDK is Wurdah Itah, originally a soundtrack to the Yvan Lagrange film Tristan et Yseult, initially released as a Christian Vander solo project - released a year after MDK. And the first part of the trilogy is a 35 minute title track which was performed regularly live, but not recorded until RETROSPEKTIW I-IV in 1980. Complicated.

Such a name as 'Time of Hatred' is reflected in the mood of the tracks. MDK is an ominous, marching, totalitarian album all the way through, but its not just the style that sets this album apart from its predecessors. Here we have the introduction of Stella Vander and a chorus of female vocalists that add the final piece of the Zeuhl jigsaw.

It's very difficult for me to review each track individually and I certainly don't have the words to describe it properly. Its bombastic, pretentious, and weird. A prog dream.

Hortz Fur Dëhn Stekëhn Ẁest is a march of totalitarian hatred. Ïma Sürï Dondaï a bombastic, faster brass & flute driven track with the female chorus at the fore. Kobaïa Is De Hündïn follows on in similar vein only with a piano and organ centre stage. All the way through, Jannick Top's bass controls the rhythm spectacularly. Da Zeuhl Ẁortz Mëkanïk reprises the chorus line from the previous two tracks, and we begin to hear the high-pitched shrieking range of Klaus Blasquiz's vocals that were trialled in the earlier albums. Its here that the album does seem to get a little repetitive. Blasquiz's range is taken to the extreme on Nebëhr Gudahtt, which starts very calm and minimal and builds slowly to a shrieking crescendo as the title character's message finally gets across. The beginning of Mëkanïk Kömmandöh is pretty much identical to the end of the previous track, but the chorus of male and female vocals returns for a fast paced celebratory sounding track as the masses have come around to Gudahtt's preaching, and finally in Kreühn Köhrmahn Iss De Hündïn, the chorus marches alongside Gudahtt.

Its certainly not an album for repeat listening (for most people). At times its repetitive and grating. But in the context of the world of progressive music, it stands alone as one of the only examples I can think of where a single album inspires an entire genre of music. You could give it 5 stars or one star with exactly the same reasoning behind both. All I can say is on first listen you'll probably hate it. But come back to it a few months later after exploring a bit more. For everyone who has any interest in musical exploration, MDK is a rite of passage.

For my actual rating, it really depends on how you look at it. For the above reasons, being an absolute essential to the prog world it should have 5 stars. But rating the music itself in isolation, even if you enjoy the style it certainly has its flaws, and could be rated low. However any reasonable collection of prog music should have MDK in it, so it has to be 4 stars (3.5 for me, to be a bit more specific).

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