Xmal Deutschland – Early Singles (1981-1982)

Sacred Bones

Xmal Deutschland were born within the same German post-punk movement of the early ’80s that produced such bands as Mania D, Malaria! , Abwarts and of course Einstürzende Neubauten. This was a fever pitch of creativity for young bands pushing boundaries within their musical styles with some, like Xmal, being swallowed up in the early goth scene in the UK along with lots of other bands that they bore no resemblance to musically.

I first heard and saw live Xmal at the time of their first album release Fetisch on 4AD in 1983 and although their sound was slightly more defined than on their earlier singles, there was still that angst and dark energy to their music, all crowned by Anja Huwe’s remarkable vocal delivery. Even at this point the first ZickZack releases by the band were hard to find in the UK.

I never owned a copy of the band’s first EP, but did manage to find an import copy of the Incubus Succubus 12” with its iconic sleeve. Obviously, these releases have been out of print since the ’80s and command silly money on the second-hand market, so it’s wonderful to have them finally all re-released now, especially as interest in the band has been going through something of a resurgence in the last couple of years.

The album contains both of the EPs plus an extra track called “Allein”, whose video alone transported me back to the excitement of my teenage years when this type of music and look meant everything to me. As you can imagine, I know the songs fairly well so I’m kind of having to detach myself from memories of listening to the records in my room or seeing the band perform live at various sweaty clubs at the time, which is a little difficult as nostalgia will always creep in so some degree.

From the opening salvo of “Schwarze Welt”, you can tell there is something different about Xmal’s sound and this is primarily down to the meshing of Fiona Sangster’s synthesiser and Manuela Rickers‘s urgent guitar. Synths were still something quite rare to be used within this type of music at the time and Xmal certainly use them in a different way to how Susanne Kuhnke did with Malaria! Here there is a rough, straight to the gut earthy energy about the band; but already Anja’s vocal style is set in place and sweeps majestically over the rough-hewn backing. It’s an exciting opening and conjures up an image in sound of those times and the attitude that went with them.

“Die Wolken” is a short piece the revolves mainly around a drum machine and swirling synths that create a wind sound that blows across the track. Here the sound of the band seems more in tune with the early Human League releases than the more guitar-orientated sound they are known for. “Grossstadtindianer” is a jagged piece of punk where the guitar holds a rhythm with a certain atonal energy that gives the piece a forward momentum. It’s here that the drum and bass of Caro May and Rita Simon come to the fore, making the track more edgy as it progresses with Anja’s vocals having a sense of intense darkness about them.

The next track, “Kalbermarsch”, was not part of the original EP but instead released on a ZickZack compilation album. It’s here Xmal almost move in to industrial territory with its fuzzed synth sound and almost martial beat that punches through Rickers’s big sparse chord sequence that picks up pace as the song commences.

“Incubus Succubus” is one of Xmal’s most infamous songs and the one that got them lumped in with the whole goth scene emerging at the time. With its big raw energy guitar smashing over a danceable drum pattern while a synth creates grating spooky shapes over the top and Anja’s demonic vocal delivery, it opens the pathway to where the band would head next and remains a masterpiece of post-punk rock that is still fresh and daring as it was in 1982. “Zu Jung Zu Alt” brings the bass forward, making a steady riff that the track builds from. Here, Anja uses a lower-register vocal and gives a much more subdued performance as the track chugs away behind, giving an almost trance-like feeling to the song.

The last track from the original EP is “Blut Ist Liebe”, which uses a similar drum patten to their song “Qual”, released a year later. Here we see Xmal’s sound getting slightly more streamlined and slightly less rough around the edges, as if each new recording was pushing them towards that sound they would become know for on the album releases. The guitar at points has an element of Daniel Ash’s early work with Bauhaus in its overall sound and hints more to the style of that band’s In The Flat Field-era.

And so we come to the final track, “Alein”, which has an almost jaunty feel to it and is wonderful to hear as it sums up the early Xmal sound in its two and a half minutes running time. It has the big beat, the echoed fuzzy guitar, the driving bass, the odd synth squelch and of course Anja’s impeccable vocals.

This Sacred Bones release really is a thing of beauty, with a wonderful alternative cover image taken from an outtake photo from the band’s first EP. It has several different vinyl releases and of course a CD edition. They are also releasing an album of new music by Anja Huwe on the same day, her first new material in over thirty years and tracks feature Rickers on guitar (an Xmal reunion maybe?)

To have all of these rare early tracks together in one place and so nicely handled with care and thought just adds to Xmal’s ever growing legacy and hopefully more stuff from the vaults will finally see the light of day for us fans who have been with them for over forty years now.

-Gary Parsons-