NEKROPOLIS: MUSIK AUS DEM SCHATTENREICH

Nekropolis is the artistic pseudonym of Peter Frohmader, a German electronic music composer who started out in the late 70s, releasing his debut album 'Musik aus dem Schattenreich' (or 'Music from the Darklands') in 1981, a recording that combines Frohmader's fascination with Tangerine Dream and Black Sabbath most of all, and while this album is a bit of a latecomer to the world of German electronic music, it offers a unique blend of influences that is rarely heard, and serves as a gritty soundtrack to one's horrid nightmare visions. The music is quite dark and has a strong gothic edge to it, full of washes of grizzly electronic hatches supported by a fascinating and ominous rhythm section, and while this goes to define most of Frohmader's work, it is this debut album that remains the most innovative and significant work of his.

The two sides of the original album are thematically divided as "scamper-cycle" and "night-cycle", but the entire LP is replete with nightmarish visions and sways of electronic horror, definitely containing some of the darkest electronic music of this decade, with significant amounts of eclecticism as Frohmader dares to experiment and anticipate drone music, gothic rock and dark ambient. The album starts off with this cold parade of sounds and effects, which is prevalent on the first two tracks, until one gets to the surprisingly groovy 'Unendliche Qual', featuring the drumming of Rudi Neuber, the only musician credited alongside Frohmader. The ghoulish soundscapes are extremely evocative and disconcerting, the entire atmosphere of the record is haunting and unnerving, and this is taken up by the 9-minute piece 'Krypta', an almost 'Zeit'-like composition. The second side is completely drab, metallic, and claustrophobic, the washes of sound are incredibly cold, and the album cover is perhaps a brilliant representation of the music composed by Frohmader here. Subsequent reissues reveal bonus material, which is much in the same vein but expands the overall sonic image of this lesser-known but vivid, haunting and audacious musical experience that is 'Musik aus dem Schattenreich'.

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