For those people who liked their guitar abuse monolithic and monumental, they probably mourned the demise of Caspar Brötzmann‘s trio and it has been over thirty years since the last Massaker release. So to appease public demand and also to plug a burning need in our current volatile world climate, he has brought it out of retirement.
Although he released the two-part Bass Totem album last year, It’s A Love Song is the first Massaker release of new material since 1993’s Koksofen and it is quite the cumbersome journey. Spread over three tracks and thirty-four minutes, the LP consists of an abstract intro of muted bells, dropped instruments and loaded silence; and then two live versions of recent composition, “All This Violence”.
Perhaps not typically a love song in common form, these two sprawling live interpretations, in which he is joined by longtime foil Eduardo Delgado Lopez on bass and Saskia von Klitzing on drums, were recorded in two different places, and due to the length and its personal resonance come across in pretty different ways.The thirteen-minute version from Vienna reintroduces us to their unique soundworld as guitar strings reverberate like lift shaft cables under heavy tension. It is an intense start that would be helped by searing volume as the slow, agonising chords interact with the deep moan of the bass in a beatless turmoil. The bass plumbs the depths, scouring the seabed as the guitar dips and dives through the salty murk, thrusting blindly through the dark waves .
It moves from action to stasis in the blink of an eye; but always with the emotional turmoil, a kind of simmering rage. Ten minutes elapse before a whiff of percussion and then Caspar’s voice; the voice of a dying man echoing and full of portent. The resonant tones hover over points of near silence before ending in whirl of impotent frustration.The longer version from Dresden is perhaps less obtrusive, still scarred and searing, but it takes longer to start like the energy is a little lower. The rumbling notes are given a chance to decay, but the attention to detail is a little more obsessive. Don’t worry though, the sound spectrum is still full and there is a brief section of serious punishment before the guitar starts to soar, as if he is drifting away from the stage. It is a fresh approach to the song which, although the vocals still maintain their spectral tendencies and the drums clatter sporadically, is a pretty different version.
All in all if you have missed the Massaker, this is an essential release. Nobody really sounds like this; certainly not in this day and age and it is a welcome return. There was a new album slated for release, but was then postponed; so as a taster this is a necessary addition to the canon. Keep your fingers crossed for more.-Mr Olivetti-
