Stumpff – Alles Idioten (Album – Danse Macabre)
Genre/Influences: EBM, Crossover, Industrial.
Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.
Background/Info: Belgian born Thomas Peters better known as Tommi Stumpff became one of the leading artists of the 80s Electronic underground scene. His biggest hit “Massaker” is part of our collective memory. Nearly twenty years after his last work Stumpff is back with a new (mini)-album featuring six songs.
Content: “Alles Idioten” is a cynical wink to the world we live in. Five songs have been sung in German, which remains one of the artist’s characteristics, but the last track features English vocals. Sound-wise the new songs are bringing us back to some of his early success tracks, “Massaker” remaining the reference. The compositions are mixing solid Electronic bass lines and sound treatments on one side and the typical guitar riffs on the other side.
+ + + : Stumpff hasn’t lost his early magic and this new work sounds even better than some ‘old’ albums. There’s a constant power running through the tracks while the balance between Electronics and the great guitar riffs remains a unique experience. The title track is a great piece, but I prefer the more powerful and EBM-driven “Geh Sterben”. This work smells like pure nostalgia!
– – – : The single regret is the album only features six songs.
Conclusion: Stumpff strikes back with power and style; it sounds like time has no impact on the new songs. This is a cool comeback!
Best songs: “Geh Sterben”, “Alles Idioten”, “Frohes Fest”.
Rate: 7½.
Artist: www.facebook.com/tommi.stumpff
Label: www.dansemacabre-group.de / www.facebook.com/dansemacabrerec
About Tommi Stumpff
Thomas Peters, known as Tommi Stumpff, was born in Belgium, spent his childhood in Paris and Brussels and moved back to his birthplace Düsseldorf. In the late 1970s he sang in the punk band Der KFC before starting a solo career. His debut album “Zu spät Ihr Scheisser” came out on the Düsseldorf label Schallmauer Records; the single “Contergan Punk” followed on Giftplatten in 1983, produced by Conny Plank. The album “Ultra” (1989) holds “Massaker”. After stepping back from music in the 1990s and working in IT, he returned to the stage in 2007. Side-Line reviewed Terror II on Danse Macabre in April 2018.
Side-Line announced the new album in February 2021 in Tommi Stumpff returns with all new album after 16 years of silence. Danse Macabre released “Alles Idioten” on 19 March 2021 as a CD in a digipak, as a 12″ on green vinyl and as a download, credited on the sleeve to Stumpff. The six tracks are “Alles Idioten”, “Geh Sterben”, “300 Tote – Teil 2”, “Frohes Fest”, “Gnade Dir Gott” and “Stranglehold”. Stumpff wrote the music and lyrics, sang, played lead guitar, programmed and produced; Rüdiger Schuster played keyboards and sang, Marcel P. played bass, sang backing vocals and co-produced, Sam H. Hunt played baritone guitar and Estella Plunkett added backing vocals. In the October 2021 ‘Click Interview’ with Tommi Stumpff he described the live band with Schuster as harder and more metallic than his solo years.
Schuster announced his final solo album Schuster III – Final Ten Industrial Tracks in July 2022. Tommi Stumpff died on 28 July 2023 at the age of 65; Side-Line published RIP Tommi Stumpff, dies aged 65. “Alles Idioten” is his last album covered on Side-Line.
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