Kommando – Brutal Cell (EP – Ant-Zen)
Genre/Influences: Industrial, Power-Electronics, Death-Industrial.
Format: Digital, Vinyl.
Background/Info: Dan Courtman (Thorofon) strikes back with five new songs of his Kommando sound/noise-project.
Content: “Brutal Cell” sounds as brutal as its sound. We get a harsh melting pot of Power-Electronics/Noise and Death-Industrial. Heavy Noise blasts and harsh vocals are coming together in an unpolished and tormenting work.
+ + + : Kommando reminds me the ‘earlier’ years of Ant-Zen; call it the golden years of Power-Noise and related music styles. Dan Courtman sounds like claiming there’s still a place for this kind of music today. The sound makes me think of a bulldozer destroying everything in its way. I have a preference for “Evil Ota” which also is one of the heaviest cuts.
– – – : Kommando stands for brutal energy and is not accessible for a wider audience.
Conclusion: Does Kommando be in charge of the machines or did the machines get full control over the operator? “Brutal Cell” must be an indication to find the answer…
Best songs: “Evil Ota”, “Sequester”.
Rate: 7.
Artist: www.facebook.com/dan.courtman.7
Label: www.ant-zen.com / www.facebook.com/antzen.official
About Kommando
Kommando is the noise and power electronics project of German musician Dan Courtman, who also records as Thorofon. Discogs describes Kommando as Courtman’s pre-Thorofon incarnation, reanimated in 2007.
Early cassette material was reissued in 1999 through We Don’t Need Distributors as “Funky Spasm” and “Electronic Fear”. “Necroinvasiv” appeared on L. White Records in 2007 and “Crimefactory” on UMB in 2009. Ant-Zen then released “Kranial Klash” in 2014, “Skull Snake” in 2015, the three-way split “Cold War, Hot Love” with Control and Geneviéve Pasquier in 2018, and the one-sided 7″ “The Golden Cage” in 2019.
Ant-Zen issued “Brutal Cell” as a 7″ EP on April 19, 2022, in a heavy grey cardboard sleeve with hand-printed artwork by Stefan Alt, alongside a concrete box edition and digital formats. Courtman has since returned with “Wage Of Wrath” on Ant-Zen in 2024 and “Bloodpinner” on Crimefactory in 2025.
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