SCHLACHTVIEH

Schlachtvieh biography
SCHLACHTVIEH were a short-lived progressive krautrock band from Baden-Württemberg, Germany, which released one sole record, 'Ein Rock-Oratorium Gegen Den Krieg', on the Kanon label in 1980. The rare, privately-pressed LP was an anti-war concept album with Christian themes. Operating in the tradition of the classic polit-rock groups from the late 1960s but tempered with experimental electronic punctuations, Schlachtvieh have been described as a cross between Cluster and Organisation and Floh De Cologne, Lokomotive Kreuzberg, Oktober and Checkpoint Charlie.

The band consisted of nearly a dozen players, featuring keyboardists Uwe Meinelt (who would form NDW band Lusthansa a year later), Dietrich Lohff and Johannes Weineck along with flautist Judith Pfannenmüller, bassist Markus Herzig and drummer Sandro Neuhaus. The guitar work was handled by Ulrich Meier and Matthias Schäuble (who would later go on to be the recording engineer for Guru Guru, Embryo and other similar acts decades later).

Some tracks featured lyrics adapted from writer and playwright Wolfgang Borchert, the philosopher Novalis and poet Krzysztof Baczynski (who perished at the hands of the Nazis in the Warsaw Uprising), with one song's contents taken from the Old Testament's Book of Joshua. The album's narration was performed by Eva Anselm, Thomas Zapf and Bruno Schaab (former bassist for Guru Guru).

(biography contributed by forum member Gordy)