STÜRMISCHER HIMMEL

'Stürmischer Himmel' begins promisingly - for a full 6 seconds - with the pretty sound of bleating lambs but is on an immediate downward slope as it becomes abundantly clear that this was recorded on a windy day. They couldn't even be bothered to wait until the gale died down. Horrible microphone distortion is basically all you'll remember on this field recording.

God's teeth! What have I done to deserve such punishment? Listening to Anima Sound is as annoying as watching a chicken try to fly - clumsy, ugly, ungainly and doomed to failure. Replete with simply atrocious production values the two members of this band bash, blow and warble incoherently and tunelessly for the best part of 40 minutes. All the while deep furrows appear on my forehead throughout its duration.

All sounds are acoustic and quite frankly sound awful. It's as though it was recorded on one track direct to a 1970 BASF blank cassette. Everything appears tinny and distant. There's no depth of sound whatsoever. Even the drug addled vocals by the amusingly named Limpe Fuchs lend nothing to it's enhancement. Usually crazy people make hilarious listening when recorded, this however, is deeply irritating. It basically sounds like two corpses from 'Zombie Flesh Eaters' have been given instruments they've never seen before and have been told to record on the spot at gunpoint - or else suffer the consequences.

To cut it short - 'Stürmischer Himmel' sounds like a walrus with a bugle strapped to it's muzzle trying to escape from a wardrobe as a loud shouting woman covered in cymbals tries to rescue the creature using clubs and hammers.

Whilst not the poorest record I've reviewed by a long shot (see Hairy Chapter, Gnidrolog or Chillum) it's certainly the most disappointing due to the enthusiasm I held before hearing it. Partucularly as it was on the 'Nurse With Wound' list. Oh well, I guess I should look on the bright side - at least I've lost my copy of the follow-up 'Musik Für Alle'. If I remember correctly, it was even worse than this.

By the end of this recording I'm in such a stupor that I must look like Frankenstein's monster gazing in wonder at his first daisy just before he drowns that little girl by the pond.