Nitzer Ebb Reviewed
Nitzer Ebb
Body Of Work/Body Rework: Remixes
(Mute)
Personal note where one doesn’t belong: Nitzer Ebb have scared me since I really knew I liked music. I played guitar, put “More Than Words” on tapes for 8th-grade make-out parties, but the yells of “Guns! Guns! Fire! Fire!” genuinely frightened me.
Granted, I was prepubescent and hearing them from the only drummer I knew’s older brother, but even it wasn’t typical Depeche Mode/Erasure from his Filipino crew. Today . . . I’m no less panicked. “Join In The Chant” still puts Nine Inch Nails’ “Down In It” to complete fucking shame; the original is a militant bent off of Ministry’s original template that turned four-letter words into metaphysical, conservation-of-matter chaos. Even the word “Nitzer” — delicately though knowledgably hanging near “Nazi” — produced fear where there was none before. Turning new wave dance closer to Throbbing Gristle painmongering than it cared be, The Ebb, as I timidly refer to them, gave no quarter.
The two-disc set Body Of Work collects 22 tracks including remixes; Body Rework goes 11 more rounds.
— Steve Forstneger
Appearing: September 25th at House Of Blues in Chicago.
