MORBUS

4.5 stars. Thanks to bands like ELECTRIC ORANGE and THE FUTURE KINGS OF ENGLAND Krautrock is alive and well in 2008. I don't know if the spirit of Krautrock ever really died but I sure appreciate these bands giving us fresh material to listen to. The only thing I don't like is the cover art, but it's all about the music right ?

"Einwahn" opens with samples that make you think were in a middle of a party.Then the pounding drums arrive with guitar melodies. This is very repetitive(hey it's Krautrock) and catchy. Organ joins in at 2 1/2 minutes. A minute later the sound changes as the drums become less prominant. "Rote Flocken" has these spacey sounds, drums and spoken words. Processed vocals 2 minutes in and a heavy soundscape. Organ runs are great that follow. Dissonant flugel?(sounds like trumpet) out of nowhere after 3 minutes. Distorted guitar and organ are outstanding. "Span 5" has this mid-paced, catchy rhythm. The bass stands out as the organ comes and goes.The harmonium cries out 3 minutes in.This is amazing ! Some ripping organ 5 minutes in to the end. "Morbus" opens with percussion and drums as spoken words arrive. It's almost impossible not to groove to this one. A powerful wall of sound 2 minutes in changes things briefly before the beat comes back. This contrast continues. "Errorman" opens with sinister sounding organ as a nice heavy sound comes in. Drums and organ dominate this tune. Vocals a minute in. This is incredible ! The melody stops 6 1/2 minutes in as deep, dark sounds take over,then back to the melody. "Flohfunknest" opens with drums, bass and strange sounds. Powerful organ joins in. Spoken words come in as drums,bass and organ lead the way.

"Traumama" is spacey with drums and organ. Female vocal melodies 2 1/2 minutes in. Guitar comes and goes. "Krautschock" opens with dark,spacey sounds as drums and spoken words come in. The flute comes and goes. Organ and other sounds come and go. This is trippy stuff, I like it. "Wald" features drones and spacey sounds to open with no melody. An OZRIC TENTACLES-like beat comes in 2 1/2 minutes with organ. Vocals 5 1/2 minutes in with spacey synths. The beat stops 7 minutes in but then kicks back in with attitude. Killer guitar too. Fantastic ending on this one, incredible song. "Reaching" is a restrained tune with percussion, processed vocals and mellotron. Freaking amazing ! Strummed guitar and flute also come in. The sound on this one reminds me a little of OPETH's Damnation album. "Schohl 2" is different with outbursts of sound coming and going. Not a fan of this one. "Sarau" sounds great with these waves of sound with organ and flute. A very spacey, FLOYD-like soundscape. Before 4 minutes in a beat arrives and the tempo picks up. Guitar after 7 minutes is atmospheric then noisy in a good way. Love the last 1 1/2 minutes of this one.

Favourites are "Span 5", "Errorman", "Wald", "Reaching" and "Sarau". Thought about 5 stars because i adore this record, but at 78 minutes in length it has it's share of average moments. Lots of variety though.