Genre/Influences: Experimental-rock, rock-wave, krautrock.

Background/Info: Albin Julius got some fame with Der Blutharsch. This neo-folk driven project got renamed into Der Blutharsch And The Infinite Church Of The Leading Hand and started to explore different music paths. An impressive number of productions got released over the past 8 years while Albin Julius clearly likes working together with other artists. “Desire” is a new collaboration between Der Blutharsch And The Infinite Church Of The Leading Hand and the American krautrock formation White Hills.

Content: The psychedelic influence is the first thing you can hear on this 5-tracks productions. The opening song is a fascinating exploration mixing dark 80s influences with pure 60s psychedelics. The other songs feature similar elements with intriguing female vocals on top.

+ + + : “Desire” is an interesting production featuring two bands sharing similar music ideas. It however remains something particular, but definitely original. I like this psychedelic approach, which mainly comes through at the opening song. Another attention grabber is the darker title-song carried by a superb, deep bass line. This EP reminds me to the good old 12” format from the 80s featuring different songs and no remixes! Notice by the way “Desire” has been also released on vinyl format.

– – – : Both last cuts can’t totally convince me; it feels a bit as the magic from the opening part has been lost.

Conclusion: Der Blutharsch And The Infinite Church Of The Leading Hand never stops to surprise, but in the meantime the band clearly moves on experimenting with psychedelic-rock, krautrock and related genres. This is a new and interesting collaboration.

Best songs: “Nom De Guerre”, “Desire”.

Rate: (6½).

Artists: www.derblutharschandtheinfinitechurchoftheleadinghand.com /

www.facebook.com/Der–Blutharsch–and–the–infinite–church–of–the–leading–hand-112227928849449 / www.facebook.com/WHITE–HILLS-90476409450

Label: www.van–records.de / www.facebook.com/vanrecs

Inferno Sound Diaries

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.

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Eight years after their 7″ single “Today I want to catch Clouds”, the two spacerock/prog/krautrock bands White Hills and Der Blutharsch join forces again and deliver a mini-LP with 5 all new songs.

Good to know, this is not a ‘split’ release, instead all tracks have been especially written and recorded by the two bands together.

The Vinyl edition comes on heavy 180g Vinyl on red/purple vinyl, recorded on 1 side only, while the B-side features an etching. The vinyl comes packed inside a special sleeve with partial UV-varnish and inner printing. Orders for this vinyl can be ordered right here.

A CD version can also be purchased.

Below is the video for the title track “Desire”.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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