EISZEIT

What a shame that this extraordinary album of 1978 is so much unknown even to Krautrock fans these days, since it was restored and reedited only in 2002 and finally released in 2005 with the Cosmic Egg label. Thus, this is something entirely new especially to those born in the 70ies and later, and when I incidentally came across "Ich bin ein Teil" ? the album´s final piece ? on Youtube, I was immediately absorbed by its spacy, way-out nature. After slowly starting with some meditative vocals about being part of the earth, the piece soon merges into a bluesy guitar intro that gradually evolves into Günter Schickert´s characteristic echo guitar with its redundant rythm loops and cycling melodies, leading the listener far away into high speed psychedelic space-time. The echo guitar with its different layers, which is unique even within the rythmic structures of the Krautrock genre, determines the musical style of the album (apparently made completely without synthesizers!). Apart from "Ich bin ein Teil" it is found abundantly in "Sepp oben Ich unten", with percussion and guitar harmonizing perfectly, as well as the high speed piece "Wilderness". But there are also calmer parts present, like the ambient "Tropfstein". The word in German means "dripstone" and may be associated with a cave. Indeed, the sound experiments audible at the beginning of the piece might remind one slightly of Pink Floyd´s "Several Species of Small Furry Animals gathered together in a Cave ...". But unlike the latter, "Tropfstein" doesn´t stick to the sound experiments but soon evolves melodically into an otherworldly mystical piece. In "Deamons" - which is absolutely outstanding even within this remarkable album - atonal high pitch vocals give the music an intriguing note, meanwhile the eccentric vocal and instrumental arrangements need not to hide behind great English prog rock contemporaries like King Crimson or Gentle Giant. The solemn "Verlass mich nicht" ("Don´t leave me") again captivates the listener with high pitch vocals and a perfectly matching "Pink Floyd manner" percussion at "heartbeat" tempo with accompanying guitar. Finally, mentioning "Geige" one should add that with this piece, in 1978 GAM were already pointing at the future: Like many other Krautrock bands, they took part in inventing the beat of the nineties, which can be ? among other examples of seventies music ? listened to here. Generally, "Eiszeit" is outstanding in its innovation and will be an excellent addition to any prog rock album collection.