Grausame Töchter – Zyklus (Album – Scanner / Dark Dimensions)
Genre/Influences: Electro-Punk, Industrial-Pop, Cabaret.
Format: Digital, 2CD.
Background/Info: Grausame Töchter, which means ‘Cruel Daughter’ is back unleashing the sixth album in the band’s history. Driven by the enigmatic and eccentric Aranea Peel, this work has been introduced as ‘a dark, dystopic, sexual, sarcastic and grotty look at humanity.’ A pessimistic vision the band prefer to label as ‘joyful pessimism!’
Content: You don’t necessarily have to speak German to understand the provocative themes of this formation. “Zyklus” is as provocative as it is artistic. The music remains a truly free-style of Electro mixed with Industrial-Pop and a Punkish way of singing reminiscent of Nina Hagen. The songs reflect a mature writing process while the sound became an osmosis between all different sources of inspiration. You now get the feeling of discovering the female alter ego of Dive while you next get a pure reincarnation of Punk music into Electro. Sometimes sensual, but often moving on the edge of censor, “Zyklus” reveals a non-stop amount of sonic surprises.
The bonus disc reveals a kind of ‘cabaret burlesque’ style; a more theatrical approach and personal interpretation of German ‘chanson’. It reveals a minimal style, accomplished with classical instruments and creating the illusion to watch a kinky, forbidden performance in a secret underground bar.
+ + + : Grausame Töchter remains a very unique experience because of the image, but also because of the sound. They elevate the art of provocation to a high artistic degree. It’s never a ‘cheap’ thing, but clearly a creative process where image and sound become fully complementary to catch the attention of the heaviest skeptics. I was a skeptical mind right at the beginning of this band’s career, but became progressively convinced by the talent of Grausame Töchter. I hate when artists just focus on a strong image, but I like artists who behind the image still have the skills to compose great music. “Zyklus” is a genius work –one more, somewhat versatile, but always easily recognizable because of Aranea Peel’s unique timbre of voice and theatrical way of singing. And behind the voice also hides an accomplished song writing, which mainly comes thorugh at the Industrial sounding “Sarkastische Katzen”, which is a kind of Dive-song on sex! And I also recommend “Laber Laber” for its Industrial-Punk approach carried by a solid lead.
The bonus disc also reveals a great free-styled Cabaret-music style, which I can imagine together with the band’s image would become a true live sensation!
– – – : The Cabaret-style of the bonus disc will probably not ravish all music lovers and rather sounds as a production for the German market.
Conclusion: If provocation wouldn’t exist, Grausame Töchter would invent it! This music would be the right soundtrack for a forbidden version of the successful series “Babylon Berlin”!
Best songs: “Laber Laber”, “Sarkastische Katzen”, “Wilde Wölfe”, “Fickstück” + “Ich Lass Mir Meinen Körper Schwarz Bepinseln”, “Das Lied Von Den Braunen Inseln”.
Rate: (8 ½).
Artist: www.facebook.com/GrausameToechter
Label: www.darkdimensions.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Dark-Dimensions-Label-Group/486014725206
About Grausame Töchter
Grausame Töchter formed in Hamburg, Germany, in 2009, built around vocalist Aranea Peel and drummer and studio mixer Gregor Hennig. The band mixes EBM, industrial, punk, film-score elements and techno, with German-language lyrics that center on sadomasochism and relationship conflict. Live shows add guest musicians, dancers and film projections, and carry an 18+ age restriction tied to the BDSM content of the performance.
The debut album “Mein Eigentliches Element” appeared in 2011 through Scanner / Dark Dimensions, followed by “Alles Für Dich” (2012), “Glaube, Liebe, Hoffnung” (2014) and Vagina Dentata (2016), reviewed on Side-Line in June 2016. Engel Im Rausch followed in 2018 and was reviewed in December 2018; it included cover versions of Joachim Witt’s “Goldener Reiter” and Hubert Kah’s “Rosemarie”.
“Zyklus”, the sixth album, was released by Scanner / Dark Dimensions on 9 April 2021 on CD, as a download and as a limited double CD in a digipak with a 16-page booklet, limited to 999 copies according to Discogs. The fifteen tracks are “Alpha”, “Wilde Wölfe”, “Alles Kaputt!”, “Annika Nimmt Drogen”, “PENG! PENG! …TOT!”, “Respekt Und Sex”, “Klinik”, “Zyklus”, “Sarkastische Katzen”, “Laber Laber”, “Wie Ein Hamster”, “Messer An Die Kehle”, “Fickstück”, “Süchtig Nach Ewigkeit (Rhumba)” and “Omega”. The bonus disc, “Aranea Peel Singt Klassische Deutsche Chansons”, also issued as a separate download, holds ten German chansons by Friedrich Hollaender, Kurt Weill and Hanns Eisler, among them “Seeräuberjenny”, “Ich Bin Von Kopf Bis Fuß Auf Liebe Eingestellt” and “Das Lied Von Den Braunen Inseln”, with edits and arrangements by Hans-Jürgen Osmers.
The compilation Werkschau followed in 2022 and the seventh studio album BDSM For Satisfaction at the end of 2023; Discogs lists “Get Your Overdose” for 2025 and the limited 7″ “Get Your Kinky Overdose” on Dark Dimensions for 2026. “Zyklus” is the band’s third Side-Line review.
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