Genre: EBM - Electro
Label: 9XO Media
Rating: 8/10
Anyone who
attended BIMFest last year could get acquainted with Amnistia. For me, it was
not the first acquaintance, however, it was the first time I saw the gentlemen
in my own country. I have already met Stefan Schötz and Tino Claus various
times during my wanderings in the European old-school electro scene. Most of
the time, I encounter the two in East Germany, more specifically at the WGT EBM
Warm-Up in Leipzig (their place of residence) and at the Lauscher Festival in
Erfurt. I have also stumbled across them in Oberhausen (E-tropolis
Festival) and in Bratislava (Dark EBM Souls). But then again, the European dark
electro scene is very small and everybody knows everybody. Consequently, it was
written in the stars I would review this CD, even though I have bought it
myself. Believe it or not, but us reviewers still invest in music, even though
we can generally still obtain (digital) promos rather easily.
'Black Halo' is
the follow up of 'Dawn', the album from 2016 which I also reviewed for this
webzine at the time and on which former third band member Jan Moritz had still
collaborated. Amnistia has now been a duo for a while and that has in no way resulted
in any loss of quality. Just like the previous album, 'Black Halo' is a
guarantee for cast-iron compositions in the old-school electro/EBM setting. Compared
with other bands in the contemporary dark electro scene, Amnistia has always
been more EBM-oriented. Their tracks have a cutting-energetic touch which you
do not encounter with let’s say, Fïx8:Sëd8 or Pyrroline. I certainly think they
are talented, but fact is I am personally more into classic dark electro. I
have always struggled a bit more with EBM, even though that strongly depends on
the kind. For instance, I do not like Nitzer Ebb/Anhalt stuff at all, but
fortunately, that is not the case here. Amnistia’s EBM is of a very different
(and in my opinion, much more varied) nature.
Even though I have
to acknowledge that 'Black Halo' is objectively well-made, I do not like all
songs to the same extent. For example, 'The Itch' sounds rather overloaded and 'Last
Words Purify' vaguely reminds me of 'Nightfall (Over EC)' by The Cassandra
Complex, a song which I have never liked. I also deem 'Suffer' as one of the
less memorable compositions. But the majority of the tracks is certainly good
or great. My top 3 consists of 'Through The Night', 'Misery' and 'Package Of
Regrets'. They are 3 very distinct tracks, each of which in their own way showcases
an attractive, ear-friendly old-school electro/EBM sound. An honorary mention
goes to 'We Do Not Disturb Our Dead'. This atmospheric, dark instrumental
sounds totally different from the rest of the album (as well as different from
what I am used to as regards Amnistia). In a way, it would have made more sense
if the band would have kept this song for the bonus CD 'Black Halo Encores'
(available as part of the limited box set; soon also digitally), but instead,
it has become the last track of the actual album. Not that I am
complaining.
With 'Black Halo',
Amnistia has proven that old-school electro/EBM still sounds exciting and
refreshing in 2019. So far, I have heard nothing but enthusiastic feedback and
in all objectivity, I myself can conclude that this is a solid, contemporary
album in the genre.
CD review: Marjolein Laenen
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