in the existence of evil
You have a lot to learn
Praise your fears
-- :wumpscut:
(Rudy Ratzinger)
| Musicfolio.com | Reviews & Recommendations |
| If you don't believe in the existence of evil You have a lot to learn Praise your fears -- :wumpscut: |
:wumpscut: (Rudy Ratzinger) |
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 "Wumpscut produce industrial music
ranging from mostly techno remixes through to experimental noise and power
noise dance music. Their style very harsh, dramatic and explosive. High
distortion guitars and experimental drum cycles. They are not always danceable,
and it requires a certain resilience to listen to some of their tracks, but if
you appreciate the drama and violence of industrial then you should give them a
chance to grow on you."
-- Vexen Crabtree,
geocities.com/vexenuk.geo/wumpscut.html
 1993:
Music For A Slaughtering Tribe "An obsession with skulls and photographs from the holocaust dominates the booklet of :Wumpscut:'s CD Music For A Slaughtering Tribe. And, like another black plague, this preoccupation with horror and death also courses through every track of this extremely dark and morbid release. The music on Music For A Slaughtering Tribe is characterized by brutally distorted percussion, media samples, shrill synth themes, Rudy Ratzinger's nihilist lyrics and processed vocals that sound like death itself. Ratzinger recieved assistance from other musicians on a few of the tracks, breaking the otherwise rather monotone and repetitive sound of this album. (...) The extended piece, Soylent Green, which opens the CD is this album's extreme manifestation of :Wumpscut:'s sound, and as such, the most successful -- by all means a great song."
-- Michael C. Lund, lastsigh.com
 1995:
Bunker Gate Seven /Bunkertor 7 Musicfolio picks: Thorns, Die in Winter. "Originally titled Bunkertor Seven, this is the second release from Wumpscut, following two years after 1993's acclaimed Music for a Slaughtering Tribe. (...) Certainly the album is tinged throughout with gothic overtones, but the driving beats on songs like "Mortal Highway" are a lot more innovative than most bands of this type. As usual, the material is either fast and brutal or slow and dark, something that can grate the listener after a while, and the pretentious-sounding ethereal female vocals are a definite step back for Ratzinger, but on the whole, Bunker Gate Seven is a competent release from a man who is clearly not afraid to look ahead."
-- Jim Harper, allmusic.com
 ¼ 1997:
Embryodead Musicfolio picks: Embryodead, Is It You?, Angel. "With all Wumpscut albums you have your share of great songs and annoyingly bad ones. This album is compiled of better ones rather then bad ones, almost all the songs on Embryodead range from good (War) to excellent (Angel, Embryodead, Golgotha). This album is much harsher in tone then any of Rudys other works, and thus it is unique."
BloodySkoll, via amazon.com reviews, 8/01
1996: Mesner Tracks A compilation of rare tracks previously available only on singles and various artists compilations. Remastered and re-released in the US in 2000.  ½ 1998:
Born Again Musicfolio picks: Is it You, Angel, Thorns, Down Where we Belong "Although on the cutting edge of gothic industrial, :Wumpscut: is an inconsistent act. Their creative enthusiasm sometimes hurtles in too many directions at once, leaving the basics of melody and classic sonic structure somewhere lost in the dust (Eevil Young Flesh, anyone?). But here, given the time to remix and re-consider their finest works, we can discern a true vision of their mastery. Thorns, one of the best dance instrumental tracks of the 90s, is unfortunately laced with lyrics - you may want the original as well (not on this disc) to compare the two, and decide which you prefer. Either way, this song is immortal. Other highlights include Is It You? and Angel. Although sometimes grating, :Wumpscut: is never boring. In a word, excellent! "
-- darkseraphim, via amazon.com, 5/00
1999: Eevil Young Flesh just click here! to send us your review of this album 2000: Blutkind/Bloodchild "This double album, called Blutkind (Bloodchild in English), is a compilation with many rare tracks. Two brand-new songs, 'Hang Him Higher' and 'Praise Your Fears') have been added to make the purchase more tempting, they are rather average :W: uptempo electro songs, the latter is pretty powerful though. Some of the tracks come from the old tapes Defcon and Small Chambermusicians, there are a few alternate versions from songs of the debut MFAST (like an instrumental 'Soylent Green'), a few unreleased tracks and some I already knew from compilations like New Forms of Entertainment I. Many of the tracks from the early 90's sound rather dated and only have historical merit, others have remained convincing."
-- maandag, funprox.com, 11/01
 ½ 2001:
Wreath of Barbs"The CD opens with the most traditional sounding :w: song on the album with Opening The Gates Of Hell. This is what :w: fans have come to expect from Rudy. Harsh and brutal dark noisy electro-industrial with distorted growling vox. It’s a good opening song to kick the album into gear quickly. Things start to change with track two Deliverance. Right from the very start of this song there is a more modern technoid sound to it. This song mixes futuristic EBM with a combination of distorted angry snarling and robotic talking. (...) Track six Christfuck is easily my favorite song here. It’s :w: of old colliding with the modern club floor EBM sound of today featuring futuristic electronic music and a catchy chorus. It’s definitely the club hit on this album. (...) Track ten Bleed In Silence is beautifully haunting with experimental electronics, soothing synth melodies and somber male and female vocals. Track eleven Eclipse is a great upbeat electro-pop tune with female singing. It’s a nice song to end this enjoyable album with."
-- Darklight, wrappedinwire.com
 2003:
Preferential Legacy & Music For A German Tribe
Release Date: May 5, 2003 TrackListing: CD1 - 01-All Cried Out 02-Overkill 03-Achtung 04-The Voice 05-Aura 06-Marta Arnau Marti 07-Soylent Green 08-Schwarzer Tod 09-Sag Warum 10-Verflucht Bis Ihr Verhungert 11-In Der Nacht 12-Krieg 13-Stirb Im Winter 14-Schaltet den Schmerz Ab CD2 - 01-The Hellion 02-Phase Shifter 03-Throbberstalk 04-Pornography 05-Wound 06-Batavion 07-Capitolo Finale 08-Total War 09-Crucified 10-Stomp 11-Irak2 12- Lamandier 13-God 14-Red Water 15-Crang March 16-Hang Him Higher (first instrumental) 17-C. B. T. 18-Against Decay 19-Dried Blood Of Gomorrha (extended) Includes: - 2 new songs: Wumpscut's cover version of Alison Moyet's All Cried Out, and a 7 minute track titled Overkill. - 8 'Music for a German Tribe' tracks, originally available on the CD Bonus to the 'Embryodead' Box-Set. - All 12 songs from the vinyl LP that was part of the Bunkertor 7 Box-Set. - 3 new remixes: Der Blutharsch' remix of Achtung, Cleen's remix of The Voice, Das Ich' remix of Aura. - 7 previously unreleased tracks.  2004:
Bone Peeler
TrackListing: 01. Crown Of Thorns 02. Jvst A Tenderness 03. The March Of The Dead 04. Fear In Yovr Eyes 05. Rise Again 06. Final Warning 07. Fallen Angel 08. And Life Goes On 09. Ovr Fatal Longing 10. Scavenger 11. In The Peace Of Night 12. Yovr Last Salvte "Wumpscut's work has always held a sort of undescribable mysticism...it's simple in composition, yet extremely powerful and effective. The purely electronic music mixed with heavy, banging bass and distorted vocals provides a surprisingly vivid picture of it's dark themes of violence, decay, and war. Wumpscut's newest release, 'Bonepeeler', retains those same themes, and while there are some excellent tracks on it, one can't help but feel as though Rudy might be running out of ideas for the project. The first five songs are all quite good, even if sometimes the lyrics seem forced. Crown Of Thorns is probably the best bet for a single here with it's well placed samples and steady beat (though it seems too similar to 'Wreath Of Barbs' in ways). Rise Again is one of my personal favorites, and is 100% traditional Wumpscut. After the first five tracks however, the album goes downhill. Most of the songs in the later part of the album are too quite and slow to be worthy of repeated play. My advice to all the industrial/ebm fans out there: Get 'Bonepeeler' only if you already own all of Wumpscut's older material. For Wumpscut's standards, this is only a mediocre release."
-- technodemon, amazon customer review, 3/04
 ½ 2005:
Evoke
TrackListing:01.Maiden - 02.Churist Churist - 03.Dont Go - 04.Evoke - 05.Tomb - 06.Hold - 07.Krolok - 08.Breathe - 09.Rush - 10.Perdition - 11.Obsessió "Has he [Rudy] lost it? It looks like it, since the previous CD was not that strong either. This one though is even weaker. This CD has female vocals that sing nice tunes which apparently are meant to come across sultry and erotic and to which Rudy at moments sings his vocals like in a duet. Opening song Maiden thus contains sweet vocal lines and musically speaking this is a mechanised interpretation of medieval tunes. Not very impressive if you ask me. Where has the force and brutal power gone with which Wumpscut used to gain respect? Where have the strong and fierceful tracks with which you can light a fire to a dancefloor gone? Even the attempts to create some harsher tracks totally miss target. Rush is going nowhere. Only with Churist Chursit you have the idea for a second that it is going to get exciting. Unfortunately it is not the case. So with the softer songs the album also doesn’t work. It is obvious something is wrong when a C64 remix is way nicer than the original track. Obsessio could have been placed on the previous CD easily, and actually this CD sounds like an extention of the last one, only with all the weak tracks compiled on it. 'Evoke' is a very weak record and after all those years one can ask if there still is some creativity and life left in this project or a change of job would be a real consideration. This way, it clearly doesn’t work. And i think i won't say anything about the artwork."
-- TekNoir, gothtronic.com
 2006:
Cannibal Anthem
TrackListing: 01.Herzlich Willkommen 02.Wir Warten 03.Die Liebe 04.Jesus Antichristus 05.Cannibal Anthem 06.Auf Der Jagd 07.Pass Auf 08.Jetzt 09.Ohne Dich 10.Hunger 11.Recht Vor Gnade "Last year we saw the continued downfall of the once mighty Wumpscut in the form of 'Evoke', a tired, repetitive blatantly looped collection of single vocal lines knocked up in a week or so probably, to cash in on the Wumpscut brand. (...) With 'Cannibal Anthem' we were promised a move away from that and a return back into the original territority. Well its kind of true. Cannibal Anthem largely gets away from that boring looped sound of 'Evoke' and 'Bone Peeler' but, its not exactly vintage Wumpscut either and nor is it very good. I certainty appreciate that Rudy's back to writing some songs again instead of finding a nice loop and running it for 5 minutes with a chant over the top. Pass Auf and Hunger feature some nice female vocals and like most of the tracks is kind of nice without ever being much more than decent. The first single Jesus Antichristus is a favourite and is the closest Rudys come to recapturing his old glory since 1999's 'Eevil Young Flesh'. (...) Overall most of the album is trying to get away from the simple repetitive looped style of recent Wumpscut, but its still mostly underdeveloped, but at least he seems to be trying now."
-- remixwars.com, 2/06
 2007:
Body Census TrackListing: 01 The Beast Sleeps Within You 02 Remember One Thing 03 We Believe, We Believe 04 Ain't That Hungry Yet 05 You Are A Goth (ElCom2) 06 My Dear Ghoul 07 Hide And Seek 08 Homo Gotikus Industrialis 09 Body Census 10 Adonai, My Lord 11 The Fall 12 ? "... last year’s album 'Cannibal Anthem' [was] a constant good move out of some routine and boredom which both predecessors 'Evoke' and 'Bone Peeler' may have caused, this new one is rather a step back. First three tracks, The Beast Sleeps Within You, the rather calm Remember One Thing and We Believe, We Believe are all danceable-oriented Dark Electro tracks without an excessive doze of aggression, while the vocals got placed linear along the synth textures. Not bad at all – but also not essential compositions in the long :W: discography. Ain’t That Hungry Yet as being the fourth track here turns lyrically into some relation to the 'Cannibal Anthem' album – with the difference that this track lacks of quality and originality. (...) My Dear Ghoul, for sure also not a compositional master piece, finally turns the mood into the harsher and speedy field. Also the vocals can point here by offering the awaited assault which the short-haired rivetheads have longed out for. And the best track follows with Hide And Seek, an instrumental tune featuring melodic textures with remarkable Dark Electro synth layers. Your lordship Rudy is back on track with this little masterpiece... Comes then the biggest disappointment of all, Adonai, My Lord, for sure the most boring title Rudy has ever composed so far. Foreseeable, yet amateurish and loveless produced arrangements, plain lyrics... This new album seems to be shattered and burdens of several unfinished ideas. Some pieces really give the impression that they got created in a few hours and do really need some more refining."
-- Marc Tater, chaindlk.org, 1/07
2008:
Schädling TrackListing: 1. Rusty Nails from Hell 2. Schäbiger Lump 3. Oh how it feels 4. Foretold 5. Break the Seal 6. Rifki 7. Enemy 8. Hard to bear 9. Spuuk [now it´s over] 10. Moloch 11. Voodoo Void 12. Nest "Endlessly repeated phrases (Rifki) punctuate the corpse which is Wumpscut. The followers keep buying, the rest of the world seems to have moved on (or would be wise to do so) but lil' Rudy Ratzinger delusionally keeps gifting albums every year. Like tax season here in the US, you can count on him every year to make an appearance to further fleece his fans; some of them are like Rush Limbaugh's ditto-heads in that their lord and savior can do no wrong. There is the outright marketing facet to :w: which few, if any, other acts out there practice. The box set version. Not only does he cheapen the currency of electronic music with his albums, he takes all the pleasure out of the special nature of those also. In summation, Wumpscut serve to incarnate the phrase: mediocrity rules. What he even is thinking when he makes these turgid displays of maniacle egoist masochism is beyond me. His website says he's gone off in a "new direction" with this album. Yet the beats remain the same, the vocals remain the same... the hooks, if there are any, appear to be badly chosen jingles. Can the ringtones be far behind? Guess it beats having a dayjob eh?..."
-- Peter Marks, releasemagazine.net, 4/08
½ 2009:
Fuckit TrackListing: 1.Schlechter Mensch 2.The Boo 3.Fuckit 4.Cut To See How Much I Bleed 5.Achtung Menschen! 6.Autophagy Day 7.Pooch 8.Leichenteilchen 9.Broken 10.Bloodbathing Tub 11.Rumpelkammer 12.Gulag "Most of the bands make singles to support their experimental albums, which eventually hit the dance floor and are immensely successful. Bavaria-based :wumpscut: were never heavy on singles and they don’t really need them. Even on an album like 'Fuckit' they manage to combine smashing hits with incredible conceptual content. You get a hand of what awaits you on this CD the moment you lay your eyes on the former-Soviet symbolic on the cover. 'Fuckit' is a very emotional album, yet it maintains the usual :wumpscut: heaviness, although you wouldn’t call it ebm or aggrotech. A great example of modern electro-industrial, it also features some old-school industrial-rock-like beats, that shape the single material. The Boo, Fuckit and Cut to See How Much I Bleed are the mood-setting songs, but the true hits are saved for later. You might as well start with Broken, then go back to track one and sit through a great album from a band which repeatedly proves they know how it’s done. Bloodbathing Tub would be a great horror-movie sound-track. For people who’ll appreciate the concept in general, Gulag will be a treat. You are not supposed to be terrified by this kind of music, yet you will be."
-- arceon, abortmag.com, 5/09
½ 2010:
Siamese TrackListing: 01. Falling From Lucifer’s Grace 02. Boneshaker Baybee (Video Edit) 03. Siamese 04. Zirbit 05. Auf Wiedersehn Im Massengrab 06. Teufelszeug 07. Bam Bam 08. Loyal To My Hate 09. Blood Stigmata 10. Killuh "Once upon a time, Wumpscut (usually spelled ::wumpscut::, but let's be real here...) put out some really good stuff that was weird, creepy as hell, and pushed some boundaries. Now, Wumpscut puts out stuff that sounds the same as a lot of other stuff. It's still creepy and weird, but it no longer pushes boundaries. In fact, it sounds like it should have come out sometime in the early 90s. Maybe around the time of Front Line Assembly's 'Tactical Neural Implant', because it's got the same level of production, but hasn't benefited from that album's general ascension of the genre into something else entirely. Oh, and there's a limited edition with about 20 remixes. And man, there's good stuff on this disc! Why they made it limited is beyond comprehension, considering the only earth-shattering stuff to be found on this release happens to be on the second disc, which one assumes won't be around for very long.
-- Timothy Bannock, examiner.com, 4/10
 2011:
Schrekk & GrausTrackListing: 01 Rudolf Wolzek 02 Schrekk & Grauss 03 Muselmann 04 Elende Buben 05 Patient A. 06 Jiddisch Is A Zwillink 07 Wumpelstilz 08 Kikeriki 09 Zombibikini 10 Alles Aus "... while 'Schrekk & Grauss' is certainly well produced you wonder most of the time “What was Rudy Ratzinger thinking?”. This guy does have a very, erm…, special sense of humour but a track like 'Kikeriki' is a very bad joke and nothing which would deserve to be an album! 'Jiddisch Is A Zwillink' could be a nice track if it wasn't for the endlessly looped vocal sample. Same for 'Elende Buben' which repeats the song title until you wanna skip the track. 'Patient A' is a nice sound collage and is clearly a cut & paste report about the physical and mental health status of Adolf Hitler. This, the artwork, the lyrics of 'Muselmann' or 'Rudolf Wolzek' (apparently about SS member Rudolf Höß and his reports about the non-existent KZ Wolzek) makes you really ask yourself what Rudy Ratzinger is aiming at with his new :WUMPSCUT: release? Perhaps that's what you get when a solo artist works for years in his own nutshell with hardly any artistic input from outside. However, after years of going downhill, : WUMPSCUT: seems now to hit rock-bottom and to be digging its own grave finally with this new release. The title of the album closer, 'Alles Aus' (Everything's Over), might have a certain prophetic quality in regard to this, even though it's one of the few decent tracks on 'Schrekk & Grauss'. But a few decent tracks do not make a good album, especially when some of the other tracks are nothing but silly and even nerve-wrecking. In a series of mediocre releases, 'Schrekk & Grauss' is probably the worst so far."
-- J. "Niggels" Uhlenbruch,
reflectionsofdarkness.com, 4/11
2012: Women and Satan first TrackListing: 01. Hallelujah 02. Women and Satan First 03. Death Panacea 04. Kill That Little Fuck 05. Burial On Demand 06. Grobian 07. L'Enfer Noir 08. Blutsturtz, Baby 09. Cunnilingus Creutzfeuer 10. Kaufe Deine Seele Release date: April 10, 2012 |
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