AD:Key – Anthropozän (CD Album – Emmo.biz)
Genre/Influences: EBM.
Background/Info: Since their debut album “Thema Nummer Eins” released by Electric Tremor Dessau in 2008 AD:Key instantly became a hot band in EBM land. Rene and Andrea Nowotny released their 4th studio album at the end of 2015 revealing 18 songs.
Content: AD:Key remains faithful to the familiar ingredients of EBM. Their songs are driven by a typical 4×4 structure carried by a danceable cadence, dry bass lines, aggressive sequences, commanding male vocals and sexy female vocals. The work often reminds me of the famous 90s band they got inspired by, (cf. Armageddon Dildos), with the song “So What” being the ultimate reference in the genre.
AD:Key sounds like the hybrid of Armageddon Dildos, DAF and And One (for some of the sequences), but the main difference is that this album has been greatly worked out. This is an elaborate and intelligent format of EBM, which is not that common. They belong to a contemporary and strictly limited clan of visionary EBM artists.
Most of the songs have been sung in German, but a few tracks are featuring English vocals. The most surprising song probably is the cover version of Depeche Mode’s “Stripped”. I can imagine this song will get more of a response during live shows than on disc.
There are 5 remixes at the end of the album, which were made by Leather Strip, Serpents, Plastic Experience, MRDTC and Rector Scanner (side-project of Rene Nowotny).
+ + + : “Anthropozän” is a well-crafted and fully accomplished production featuring several potential hits. It also is the best AD:Key album to date.
– – – : I can’t find any significant negative point on this album!
Conclusion: I’m not saying that AD:Key is reinventing EBM, but they clearly compose one of the finest and most elaborate body formats I’ve heard in the past years.
Best songs: “Autodynamik”, “Monotonie”, “Hoch Die Hammer V.2/2015”, “Der Automat”, “Musique Electronique”, “So what ».
Rate: (9).
Band: www.facebook.com/ADkeY–offical-106750002700971
Label: http://www.emmo.biz / www.facebook.com/pages/Emmobiz–Records/183627161751008
Support Side-Line
More people read Side-Line than ever, and there is still no paywall and no advertising. Readers pay for it instead - from $5 a month.
Why we ask
Advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations we have not put up a paywall, and we refuse to add annoying advertising, so we need to ask for your help. Side-Line’s independent journalism takes time, money and hard work to produce, and we do it to push the artists we like, who are equally fighting to survive.
Handled by PayPal.
I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.
![In The Nursery "Köda [extended edition 2026]" hand-made CD package](http://sideline.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/in-the-nursery-koda-extended-edition-2026-300x300.webp)
