RAVVIVANDO

The third studio album to emerge from Faust's return to active duty saw the departure of bassist Jean Herve Peron, leaving Werner Diermeier and Hans Joachim Irmler as the sole remining members of the original line up. Thankfully there's been no attempt to replicate Peron's unique bass style, and the musicians completing this line up all bring their own contributions to the Faust sound rather than trying to reproduce the sound of their predecessors. Like King Crimson, they have managed to update their sound while retaining their distinctive style.

Like their previous two studio albums, Ravvivando combines primal rock beats with swirling storms of electonica and massively distorted instruments. The acoustic interludes and bizarre little quasi pop songs of their 70s heyday no longer appear, although they are still capable of abrupt shifts and remarkable contrasts. On this album there is also a hint of the post rock/math rock of Tortoise and other Thrill Jockey acts, particularly on the last couple of tracks. Elsewhere, Ulrike Helmholtz adds some blood curdling vocals to an already traumatising soundscape, while the addition of an extra percussionist gives 'Zappi' Diermeier's lumbering industrial powerhouse rhythm an even more powerful punch.

Faust have not mellowed with age and have remained open to new developments in music. Hopefully there is more still to come from these pioneers of experimental rock - not for the faint of heart, but strongly recommended.

Two years after the "You Know FaUSt" album the boys are back minus original bass player Jean Herve Peron. Four new members have been added and what better time with this now six piece band than to make some heavy noise. And that is the thing that stands out for me on this record...the heavy, relentless rhythm filled with distortion and electronics. Of course it's not all this way but these guys have become almost industrial sounding on this album at times. Please read Syzygy's review not just on this particular album but on other FAUST records as he explains it all so well.

"Eine Neuer Tag" builds as the organ and drums standout. I like the background noise 2 1/2 minutes in. Late in the song we get this circus-like noise that is quite annoying as it blends into "Carousel # 2" where it gets louder. Yikes ! It's all great the rest of the way though. "Wir Brauchen Dich # 6" has this heavy beat and more. The guitar rips it up after 4 minutes. "Four Plus Seven Means Eleven" has this beat with noise which includes distorted guitar expressions. It turns spacey late to end it. "Take Care" has this deep atmosphere as drums crash the scene. Distant sounding vocals join in. It blends into "Spiel" where we get some crazy percusssion.

"Dr. Hansl" has a beat with vocals and experimental sounds. "Apokalypse" is catchy with guitar and vocals. The guitar lights it up before 2 1/2 minutes. Killer stuff. "D.I.G." is a top three for me. The guitar and sounds pulse. Cool sound. A change 3 minutes in as it calms down then slowly builds again. Nice. "Du Weisst Schon" has all kinds of sounds or noise(haha) depending on your viewpoint. Spoken words before 1 1/2 minutes. "Livin' Tokyo" and the final track round out the rest of my favourite three songs. This one is catchy with distant vocals. Other voices join in briefly then the focus goes back to that great sounding rhythm. "T-Electronique" has an electronic beat to start then another beat joins in. How good is this ! Spacey background synths sound excellent too.

While you pretty well know what your going to get with any given FAUST album, this one is a little different. Pounding percussion, wailing distortion and insane elctronics ? Sounds like the same old FAUST to me. You might just have to fasten your seat-belt this time that's all.

With the 90s ending, Faust wasn't quite done with the decade just yet, and so amongst a sea of releases such as Nine Inch Nails' The Fragile, Botch's We Are The Romans, and Blur's 13, we would get the rather intriguing suite of Ravvivando.

This record would show a stylistic direction that the group would go through into the 21st century. Their 90s output had been a lot more industrial, most likely due to the golden age industrial music seemed to garner within the late 80s through 90s, though they felt more like experimentations that had a slight industrial backing. Here, though with Ravvivando, we get a full deep dive into the more industrial Faust sound that was slightly explored within Rien and You Know FaUSt. Imagine, if you will, if Na Sowas was an entire album.

This album is a nearly hour long jam of industrialized proportions, with each song going into each other in what I think to be rather seamless fashions, sort of making this a bit of Faust's late answer to The Dark Side Of The Moon, being this one massive epic of psychedelia, noise, and raw catharsis.

I feel like where You Know FaUSt suffered with the noise, Ravvivando truly enjoys it, creating this lo-fi soundscape of drones and climatic industrialization. While it is certainly loud, I never find myself fully out of sync with the music, as the tracks just have this edge that makes this entire workout feel a lot more right within its noisiness. The production work also helps I think, having this lo-fi aura around it that makes the noise rock of this record feel a lot more sublime, and certainly innovative as I could see some parallels from this to something of the caliber of more modern day slacker rock groups like Car Seat Headrest and The Microphones. Probably not to the same degree as those groups, but the parallels a lot of Faust records seem to have in modern experimental music is quite staggering.

The atmosphere of this album is also exciting too. A lot of Faust albums have this aura of mystery and intrigue to them, keeping you second guessing what the band might do next (aside from You Know FaUSt). Ravvivando, I feel like, flips this mysterious feeling on its head, having the mystery be less on what this crazy band might do from track to track, but rather what they'll do within the storm, and I find it to be really awesome as it allows the group to experiment in a more real time effort, much more than with prior albums, even in respects to my all time favorite of Faust Wakes Nosferatu.

However, there is one thing I think draws this album back and that is I find the more suite-like nature of this album to not be for the best. I certainly enjoy it when a band or group decides to make a full work that is one long song, but I find Faust to not really handle that idea properly to the same degree. I find when Faust does make a jam that is rather long, they're best marks are usually within the 20 minute marks, so having an album that is essentially one massive jam is exciting, but certainly after a while does start to feel tiring a bit.

I also think there is some fat on this album that might need to be trimmed. Carousel is honestly quite unnecessary, and the combo of Spiel and Dr' Hansl just doesn't quite work for me. They feel more like unnecessary gimmicks for this record, rather than playing within the overall experience.

However, the tail end of Livin' Tokyo and T-Electronique does make up for this record's shortcomings, as those are some of the better industrial Faust songs they have released within the 90s due to their rather mystical aura.

Overall, Ravvivando is one of the best Faust releases they made from their comeback in the 90s, and certainly one of the best since Faust IV and The Last LP. It is a bit on the bigger side, for better and for worse, but the experience is overall very positive. Certainly recommended for fans of more abrasive music, and for fans of the noise rock scene of the 20th century.

Best tracks: Wir brauchen dich #6, Livin' Tokyo, T-Électronique

Worst tracks: Carousel, Spiel, Dr' Hansl