DULL KNIFE

With a heavy sound, Dull Knife ranges from the hard prog with some good blues vein ,where robust guitar solos and a mighty Hammond take over much of the record. English vocals with clear opulence and distortion of voices, most likely caused by a Vocoder, a kind of human voice synthesizer widely used in the 1970s and 1980s. The lyrics are based in gospel speech, often marked by aggressive riffs, intense vocals, leading to believe it to be a gospel record, however, with all the experimental Krautrock vein.

Recorded in 1971, the album was produced by Dieter Dierks, who was primarily responsible for Scorpions' meteoric commercial success in the 70's. The vocalist and also keyboardist, Gottfried Janko joined Jane for the recording of the album Lady in 1975, leaving the band after its release.

Phllips, the strong holder of progressive recordings at the time, was responsible for the original pressings of the only record released, currently worth some good hundreds of dollars. Already in the 90's, the German label Second Battle remastered and re-released the album in question.

Highly recommended to good old Krautrock enthusiasts!

Dull Knife (yeah, that's the name of the band) don't mind bashing away on the drums, the electric guitars shredding away as hard as possible, the vocalist screaming through a voice distortion box. The opening ''Plastic People'' is quite bad... can't understand the words at all as the lead singer screams away through a distortion box, inaudible, somewhere in the background. There is some aggressive instrumental music, but doesn't really save it. But none of the other songs are that bad.

The highlight is the excellent ''Tumberlin' Down''. This sought of riff driven rocker is when they are at their best, with the lead singer blustering about 'GIIIRRRRLLL You Done Me Wrong' and the riffs really rock. Plus it is catchy, sticks in your head...

This is hard-rock / metal for people with good music taste! Can't have a metal band with doing an organ solo in the middle of the song these days... or maybe it's because this band is from Germany... Europeans generally have better taste ;-)

''Feeling like a queen'' is a rocker in the vein of ''Tumberlin' Down'', not quite as good, the vocal delivery is sloppy but there are good riffs... There are a few heartfelt gospel tunes, and the lead singer does have a very soulful voice, albeit, sometimes a bit sloppy. The closing track, Day of Wrath is a propetic way to finish things.

Krautrock is an interesting genre that was around in the early 70's, didn't last that long. It is often marked by aggressive riffs, passionate, gospel-influenced vocals and lots of organ. A lot of the Krautrock bands I have heard sound similar. This is a pretty good one. It's eith 2.5 or 3, I'll tentatively give it 3 stars.