Luftwaffe - Event Nihility

After very promising and noteworthy beginnings with the "Horologia Ferrea" and "Solipsistica Nihilisti" EPs and their full-length debut "Trephanus Uhr" on their own Lupine Arts label, Luftwaffe have now taken their place in the foremost ranks of modern NeoFolk music with their spectacular 2006 release on Italy's Punch Records, "Event Nihility".

Named after an unfinished screenplay that itself unfolds many of the mysteries of Luftwaffe's magickal and poetic universe, the new album finds Kalki's redoubtable army in a more melodic and musically accessible vein. with their musical craft refined to still greater excellence, yet having lost none of the world-crushing rage and gnostic indignation that can move even the most jaded listener to sit up and pay attention.

Like its predecessor, "Event Nihility" features guest appearances by an impressive array of collaborators, including Douglas P. of Death In June and Boyd Rice of NON, as well as members of Valence, Gnomonclast, State Research Bureau, and AIT! The tracks provide an engaging mix of thunderous battle-cries and declamations on the one hand and dark reflective ballads and traditional folk songs on the other, but unceasingly and unrelentingly tearing aside the veils of lies and deception behind which our modern world hides its rottenness.

The first track, "Xian", opens with an ominous looped sample of the words "and cultural hell" repeating like an accusing mantra, upon which follows the voice of N1 Xian, John Constance, that mysterious scientist, horologist, and philosopher - thought mad by his contemporaries - who transcended being and time to become the tall man, Mien Nihil, introduced earlier in "Trephanus Uhr".

"Jahada" then declares holy war on the spirit of the age. "Our struggle is with avarice. Our struggle is with greed. Our struggle it is sanctified. Our struggle is of need."

Space precludes details here of the many excellent tracks in this dark treasure-trove of an album, but I just can't find enough good things to say about my personal favorite, "Florida", which history ought to record as one of the finest ballads in the history of the Neofolk genre. "You know so well of values, but have you learned the price? The price of sin is death. Your lies are on display. Your cross is smeared with oil; your gold is stained with blood." A devastating malediction upon the hypocrisy, foulness, and corruption of the so-called Christian Right in America, this song never fails to make me reach for the repeat button on my car stereo every time it plays.

Albums such as this one and bands like Luftwaffe leave no doubt in this reviewer's mind that after several decades, NeoFolk music enters the new millennium with unabated creative force. "Event Nihility" is an absolute must-have addition to the collections of all true conoisseurs of both the NeoFolk and the Martial Industrial genres.