Muscle And Hate – A Tribute To Nitzer Ebb

I understand the fun factor (or is it self-indulgence?) when someone decides to give a tribute to their favourite band - but why in the world would I need a cheap imitation when I've got the real thing?

Ok, Nitzer Ebb themselves rose to fame over DAF's 'dead body'. But whether by pure luck or timeline default, they were there quite first at aiming their talent and fascination with the original blueprint to improve it respectively - not plagiarize or eventually ruin it in some immature angst fashion.

And while Nitzer Ebb grew from dedicated DAF-fans to respective informers of EBM, Muscle & Hate (which, according to this release is very probably - or at least seems so - a tiny one-off necessary-evil project, although I might be wrong) while paying this same respect, mercilessly kills off each song by plain and simple carbon copying. Four remixes spinning towards the end of this horrific tribute disc, only add more insult to injury.

To some extent, this album might suggest improvement to the originals - but everything on it sounds so impotent. And this is one of the worst examples of where EBM as such actually reached its peaks as the year 2005 drew to a close.

Harsh without substance, instead of trying to give personal value to Nitzer Ebb's impressive catalogue, Muscle & Hate's are pointless 'pumping iron' take-overs which might please younger EBM inductees but I am quite surprised older fans are even at slightest falling for such a cheap 'euro-dance' replica.

It's a pity hearing someone having the opportunity to use up-to-date technology and record something this shallow. And the worst of all, calling themselves 'Muscle & Hate' really doesn't make it any more (or less) intriguing. Just dull.

It's likely that I'm one of the biggest Nitzer Ebb fans here on Discogs, at least if you check the size of my collection of Nitzer Ebb records, but this record did not make me jump the first time I heard it. I felt that it was too cheesy and it reminded me of that awful period when Front 242 used a TB 303 bassline when they played live.

I think that I've probably been listening to this collection of Nitzer Ebb covers the wrong way in the past though. This cover album is actually quite good if you want to use the old Nitzer Ebb tracks on a contemporary dancefloor without clearing it totally.

It's likely that the tracks/mixes that I like the most on this album are the ones that would work the least good nowadays, but as a whole I must say that this collection of covers isn't as bad as I first thought it was.

When Nitzer Ebb finally did a reunion tour they hadn't really done much to update their tracks. It was basically a tour for the old fans, which I obviously liked a lot since I was there in the eighties, but this collection shows that a lot could have been done to update the sound. The people behind this cover album have focused on the things that make the tracks more accessible for the masses, but the basic tracks are so great that other alternatives could have been used.

I must give some credit for the vocalist(s) on this album too. The vocals are almost the real thing, just as good as the other great Nitzer Ebb copycats, Spetsnaz, anyway.

You shouldn't expect the music to be oldschool on this album because it isn't. It's still EBM but mixed with trance and techno elements in such a way that most old Nitzer Ebb fans would probably think it's too cheesy. Don't do the same mistake as I did though. Give it a chance!