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Genocide Organ, "Remember"
Some nine years ago I remember hearing much about this German industrial/power electronics band, mostly about their ultra limited LPs that fetched exorbitant amounts on the then-nascent eBay, so they instantly had cult appeal. Dear reader, remember: this was before the days of widespread file sharing, commonplace CDRs, etc,... So I was unable to actually hear what all the fuss was about until a friend recorded me (to MiniDisc, no less), a copy of the double live LP Remember, which I instantly remember loving. Fast forward a few years and their entire discography is online, and I remember feeling let down once I heard these original albums. They're not bad by any means, but they didn't quite live up to the hype that had been generated. Now, ten years after its original release, Remember is reissued on CD, with 18 minutes of extra material recorded between 1997 and 2000.
Before putting in the first disc, I wasn't sure how I would feel. My initial exposure to this material was as a fresh faced computer science undergrad that used to listen to my MD copy frequently on the way to class, always proud of my overly obscure and esoteric taste in music. Now I'm a bitter, cynical doctoral student who can't be arsed with such things and actually owns that recent Feist album. However, once the opening sample of a militia training camp of "Dogday" began, all was once again good with the world. For those not as familiar, Remember is a variety of live material culled from various shows played by the band between 1989 and 2000, taking into account the additional material that was not on the original double LP set. The newer material is appended to the second disc and fits right in, mostly consisting of non-studio material as well as selections from 1999's The Truth Will Make You Free LP. As aforementioned, I felt that in some ways Genocide Organ were a victim of their own hype, from ultra limited out of print releases and the like. Once they were more easily accessible (the self-titled disc that was issued on their first Japanese tour and the In-Konflikt album are both still available for purchase most places), it was pretty apparent they were not the most amazing industrial band ever, but did have a distinct skill at creating atmospheric tracks that could be either violently noisy or subduded, sinister atmospherics.
Any review of the band would be remiss to at least not recognize the controversial elements of their imagry, which has been consistently pegged as fascist, racist, and so forth. Most signs seem to point to a penchant for irony and showing the ugly side of humanity, and that is the side I would lean towards as well. Regardless of the subject matter, the band's equivalent of "Freebird," "White Power Forces" (here abbreviated as WPF…are we going politically correct, guys?) remains one of the most powerful, punishing noise/industrial hybrids of music since SPK's "Slogun" some 25+ years ago. Even the infamous Klan Kountry single appears here in a live form that seems much more varied and complex than the studio recordings. The band as at their best when they allow in rhythms in my personal opinion: the simple thump of "1…2…Tod" mixed with the atmospheric electronics and looped Apocalypse Now sample remains compelling in its simplicity, and I'm sure some geek could find a way to dance to the fractured drum machine on "John Birch Society."
Genocide Organ need not focus so heavily on the controversial to be compelling though. One of my all time favorite tracks of theirs, "Slap In Your Face" is all subtle, restrained clicking and industrial pulsing over a reading of Moby Dick of all things. The tension that builds to the looped climax is brilliant. The balance between subtly and harshness is apparent on "Harmony," which, even in its sub-bass pulse and yelled vocals, still feels somewhat restrained and controlled, like rage seething beneath the skin.
While referring to Remember as a double live album reeks of 1970s prog rock pretense, it functions much better as almost a career overview, but with the selected tracks almost entirely being stronger, more forceful incarnations than the studio takes. The addition of the more recent material serves to strengthen the disc as a whole and do not feel out of place among the tracks I heard so many years ago. I would definitely rank this among the best classic industrial/noise/power electronics recordings ever, and now it can be had without having to sell blood to buy an overpriced copy of the original vinyl on eBay.
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