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Angizia > Das Schachbrett des Trommelbuben Zacharias > Reviews
Angizia - Das Schachbrett des Trommelbuben Zacharias

Artistic expression in its purest form - 100%

Mors_Gloria, December 21st, 2007

Imagine yourself in inter-war Germany. Everything is unstable. The country is on the verge of political and financial crisis. People are desperate. It is the Dark Age of modern society. A period of moral decline.

Now, imagine getting lost in Berlin's allies at a cold autumn night. Mist surrounds you. You have nowhere to go. Suddenly, you notice an old, low, crippled building on your left. It has its lights on. Smoke gets out of the windows. You hear people laughing. You decide to enter the building in hope of finding someone to help you finding your way home. When entering the building you realise that it is a cabaret. A grand piano is set in the stage. Suddenly, the lights go off and you hear the soothing sound of the grand piano. That's the atmosphere that Angizia convey to you in this recording.

The driving force of the music is the vocals. This album has four different vocalists. Irene Denner, Engelke, Christof Niederwieser (of Korovakill) and Rudi Gratzl. Each vocalist leaves his (or her in the case of Irene) in the album. Rudi sings in a bass and baritone manner, Christof heads towards a more raspy direction (he doesn't growl of course), Irene sings in a cabaret fashion and Engelke just slays. Engelke's performance is one of the most authentic performances I've heard in my life. He lives the lyrics and the music (and that's logical as he is the composer, the lyricist and generally he is the soul of Angizia). His performance can only be described with Anna-Varney Cantodea's performance.

The music of Angizia is moody and melancholic. Its roots lie in the cabaret music of the inter-war with some aspects loaned by jazz and gothic music and some metal riffing. They rely heavily in piano. Various instruments (like violins, clarinets, violoncello, accordeon) can be heard througout this album but they play a secondary role along with the bass and the electric guitars. Some songs have a waltzy feeling (especially Der Essayist and Das Bauernendspiel), others have a folky feeling (especially Der Kinderzar and 2 Millionen Rubel) and others have a cabaret feeling (especially Ich bin ein Bewohner des S/W-Diagramms and Pique Dame und Rachmaninov, 1904).

This album is not a Metal album. That's for sure. It's also not for everyone. It requires trained ears. Not everyone is capable of listening to Angizia. And that doesn't happen because of the complexity of the songs. The songs are not complex. That happens because Angizia's music has depth. It can be equated to black metal and classical. Varg once said that "black metal is like classical. You just cannot get it at once. You'll have to listen to the music carefully and pay attention to every aspect of the music. Only then you'll realise the depth of it". The same happens to Angizia. Their music is multi-layered, dark and weird. On first listen you won't understand anything. Only after repeated listens you'll realise its magnificence.

On a closing note I think that it has to be mentioned that the person behind the drum kits is Moritz Neuner that has played in bands like Abigor and Dornenreich. He gives this album his very own touch. Angizia is a unique entity. There isn't a band that even comes close to Angizia's style.

So, if you are a fan of unique music and can get your hands on this one get it. This is the zenith of artistic expression.