HART AM RAND

The switch to German texts was a sound one. Like many of their contemporaries (Grobschnitt, for example), they'd abandoned prog and the English language, aiming instead at the Neue Deutsche Welle market. It made sense, aiming solely at the German market seemed to be a more likely key to success than gambling with the international market. It doesn't excuse this album from sucking as bad as it does, though!

Once again, a new cast of characters. Georg Klivinji replaces the short-tenured Winfried Kowallik on guitar, while male "singer" (if you can call what he does "singing") Michael Stein replaces the departing Jennifer Hensel on vocals. It's Stein that makes this album such an endurance test. The songs are all flat attempts to do "new wave" anyway, but Stein's voice is not only ridiculously histrionic, but also frequently off-key.

Absolutely intolerable, one of the worst albums I've ever heard. And no, that's NOT hyperbole. It really is that awful! Only insane completists need seek out this dog.