Eisfabrik – Life Below Zero (Album – NoCut / SPV)
Genre/Influences: Body-Pop, Future-Pop.
Format: Digital, 2CD, Vinyl.
Background/Info: For their sixth full length album German formation Eisfabrik moved back to NoCut. The work features twenty songs.
Content: The sound of Eisfabrik remains the same as on previous works. It’s a constant powerful mix of stumping kicks and carrying choruses. You recognize the typical Gerrit Thomas arrangements and effects reminding me of Funker Vogt but this project is more polished and ‘softer’. On top of it all you once more will notice the charismatic vocals of Charly Barth-Ricklefs aka ‘Dr. Schnee’.
+ + + : Releasing an album of twenty songs from a high qualitative level is a true tour de force. Behind this great writing process Gerrit Thomas once more reveals his endless skills. Eisfabrik sounds pretty Funker Vogt like -just like all previous works, but the production is more polished and Pop-driven. It however remains a solid power-pop format exposed on songs like “Mirror”, “One More Tale”, “White Wings” and “Choose”. You now and then will notice a few harder EBM bass-driven bass line and aggressive sequences. But everything remains in balance by the carrying choruses.
– – – : The global production remains constantly improved but the sound becomes a little bit predictable. The few softer songs bring a break but aren’t the most convincing songs.
Conclusion: Eisfabrik remains a band with a weird image, a solid Future-Pop sound, and multiple great songs.
Best songs: “Mirror”, “One More Tale”, “White Wings”, “Choose”, “Life Below Zero”, “Lost In Endless Ice”.
Rate: 8½.
Artist: www.eismusik.de / www.facebook.com/eisfabrikofficial
Label: http://nocut.de / www.facebook.com/spventertainment
NoCut and SPV released “Life Below Zero” on 25 February 2022 as a double CD digipak, as a vinyl LP, as a limited box set adding a bonus EP, and digitally. Disc one runs “Mirror”, “Saving Shore”, “Eins Mit Dem Wind”, “Wait For A Sign”, “Neurodämon”, “Lost In Endless Ice”, “7even Days Of Darkness”, “White Wings”, “Choose”, “Energie”, “Glück Auf!”, “Lost Control” and “One More Tale”. Disc two runs “Life Below Zero”, “Ain’t Gonna Lie”, “Over And Done”, “Wages Of Sin”, “Zeit Und Meer”, “Wake Up!” and “Alles Still”.
Gerrit Thomas wrote, recorded and produced the album, with the songs written in summer 2021. VDPictures supplied the artwork. NoCut released “7even Days Of Darkness” as a single in 2021 and “Lost Control” and “Saving Shore” as singles in 2022. The album is not carried on Bandcamp.
About Eisfabrik
Eisfabrik is a German future pop and EBM project built around producer Gerrit Thomas, also known for Funker Vogt, with vocals by Charly Barth-Ricklefs under the name Dr. Schnee. The project runs a consistent visual concept of ice and cold, which the band discussed in the 2017 Click Interview with Eisfabrik.
The catalogue opens in 2015 with “Eisplanet” and the singles “Ice Crystal”, “When Winter Comes” and “Maschinen”. “Achtzehnhundertunderfroren” followed in 2016 and “Null Kelvin” on NoCut in 2017. The project then moved to RepoRecords for “Rotationsausfall In Der Eisfabrik” in 2019, “Kryothermalmusik Aus Der Eisfabrik” in 2020 and “Automatisierung In Der Eisfabrik” the same year.
Gerrit Thomas set out the project’s working plan in a second Click Interview in April 2020. “Life Below Zero” marked the return to NoCut, and the next album, “Götter In Weiss”, arrived on the same label in 2023.
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