UnterART

Memento is the title of the second album by UnterART from Hamburg, Germany. Although its predecessor Noise and Grace is a fine piece of work, Memento has exceeded my expectations. The containing songs sound spicier and show more contrasts. In the listener's soul they can find a place to stay. That makes the album title fitting. The songs have become more pop-like and melodic - especially the vocals. Old school EBM elements guarantee suitability for dance floors. Three of the songs are dedicated to the romantic writer and philosopher Novalis. But UnterART's interpretations of Novalis' Hymns to the Night have nothing to do with the silence expected in libraries. They are loud and industrial-like. They seem to unleash the sound of a shattered and burning soul. Oriental influences can be found in the rhythm of Pariah. Memento is a nice track but to me seems a bit too discrete to be the song bearing the album title. Perfect World is about hypocrisy and other diseases of society. My favourite quote from it it is: so disgustingly perfect. UnterART complete their album by proving their ability to create ballads. Atrophied remninds me of songs by Depeche Mode from a later phase of their career. Atrophied finds its way deep inside and will stay in the listener's brains... Memento!

Sometimes it is hard to tell mockery from common sense, even if one is fascinated by the dark side of life, especially when trying to demonstrate its desperate appeal with harshest of pre-programmed sequences.

A band like UnterART is as every bit a cliche they ironically don't seem to notice in 'their' music - after 'Noise & Grace' - not much different or challenging from many others fighting in the same 'doom' field, out comes 'Memento', currently displayed on their official myspace page in all of its 'eclectic' nonsense. In their 'manifesto', strict description says - 'On its second album, the Hamburg-based trio UnterArt does not give too much on clichés...'

And it doesn't - it does not give a fuck either, but it gives way over the top. This music is so redundant that new listeners probably won't waste much time mistaking it for another Marilyn Manson-cum-Rammstein-cum-eurosynth hybrid in a typically 'weirdish' dance mix that is neither 'unter' nor 'art'. If this is music to impress the God of death himself, he must be feeling euthanised by now...