The 1982 Listening Post - SPK (AKA Sozialistisches Patienten Kollektiv) - Leichenschrei

 Reviewed by Jim Coursey / LISTENING POST DISCOVERY

Released: 1982 SPK (AKA Sozialistisches Patienten Kollektiv) Leichenschrei Genre: Industrial Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Highlights: Genetik Transmission Post - Mortem “I think industrial music should have stopped completely after SPK made ‘Leichenschrei’ because that was the ultimate, it was a brilliant album that nobody could make a better, more definitive work in industrial music.” - Edward Ka-Spel of the Legendary Pink Dots. [1] With a title roughly translating to “Corpse Scream”, “Leichenschrei” is a deeply unsettling album, constructed out of abstract noise, pounding drums, metallic thumps, and occasional vocals and voice recordings which are more often than not indecipherable. The bits of recorded speech which can be made out more clearly are generally medical or sexual in nature, peppered with a sense of paranoia, and delivered with an almost clinical lack of emotion as if reading a journal entry for the sake of a court appearance. [2] The more emotive vocalizations are mostly incoherent; “Despair” features a brief duet between muffled male vocals and orgasmic female shrieks, while “Agony of the Plasma” is anchored by the rhythm of a looped scream. Heavy use of echo gives the album the feeling of being recorded in a cave or under water, and sparse use of synths and guitars round out the sound. What surprised me about “Leichenschrei” is how thoroughly composed it sounds. Little about it is conventionally musical, but the various elements are clearly assembled with an ear for thematic development. Unlike a lot of true industrial/noise music, the result feels neither arbitrary nor improvised. Unsurprisingly, founder Graeme Revell would go on to work as a soundtrack composer in the 90s; the roots are clear here, somewhat more structured and dramatic than the Eraserhead soundtrack but equally noisy. The more atmospheric material on the first side is especially affecting though. If I have a complaint, it does get a bit tedious towards the more savage second side – I would have appreciated an occasional change of tone or texture at some point before returning to the horror. Album closer “Maladia Europa (The European Sickness)" hints at this with a snippet of choral music before returning to the sonic onslaught, but it is too brief to provide true respite. Props to SPK for their consistency though. While I was trolling a bit with the Ka-spel quote (to be fair, this is lifted from the Wikipedia page for this album, so how could I not include it?), I do think this album is a high water mark for industrial music, reflected in my rating. Not the Nine Inch Nails / Nettwerk / Wax Trax blend of hardcore, goth and electro that passed as industrial music in the later 80s (a style which SPK transitioned to as early as 1984). But it ranks with the best of the original industrial sound heard in Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, and Einstürzende Neubauten. I didn’t call it out as a “discovery” – SPK was well known within a certain crowd – but as someone who was somewhat familiar with their glossier dance music and had only read about earlier work, it was certainly a pleasantly unpleasant revelation for me. Should others listen to it? It really depends on how strong one’s stomach is, how narrowly one defines “music”, and what one is looking for from an album. While I think the album “Leichenschrei” is artistically very successful, it’s not so much an album to enjoy as to experience. If I were to have listened to this in a non-committal way – “hmm, maybe I’ll listen to this now, I dunno…” I would probably be off of it within a minute. To appreciate this album, it’s better to simply commit a period of time – even 10 minutes for the faint of heart – close your eyes and really listen. Or just choose this as the soundtrack to your next Halloween haunted house display. (Putting it on for a dinner party would be out of the question unless you’re trying to shed some guests.) At any rate, it may appeal to people who are interested in the music of Throbbing Gristle, early Cabaret Voltaire, musique concrete, and Karlheinz Stockhausen. I heard enough new elements with each listen that I don’t regret the 40 minutes (times three) I gave to it, and would listen to it again someday, but it’s not the kind of album I would keep in heavy rotation. ********** 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leichenschrei 2. As an example, one audible snippet of rather dryly intoned female speech includes the line, “The manager of the corporation tried to give me syphilis by wiping his cock on my sandwich.”