1. Welcome to Your New Life
2. Lebe Deinen Traum
3. Waste My Time
4. Leitbild
5. Black
6. Scars
7. Unser Weg
8. Immortal
9. The Days of Justice
10. Complete
11. Gott : Glaube
12. Say Something
13. Wasting the Years
14. Alle Wunden
15. The Way You Feel
16. Der Himmel brennt
CD2 (Deluxe Edition)
01. Eternal Souls
02. I Surround You
03. One Last Time
04. Killing Memories (Alternative)
05. The Plague
06. Seelenschmerz (Reworked)
07. Eternal Souls (Pseudokrupp Project)
08. Leitbild (Ost+Front Remix)
09. Say Something (Batfloor – Hocico Club Mix)
10. Waste My Time (feat. Helalyn Flower)
11. Anders sein (Rework 2017 – Still Different)
12. Der Himmel Brennt (Symphonic Version)
13. Wasting the Years (Acoustic Version)
For those unfamiliar with Blutengel, they're a German Darkwave
band and they're big players on the Goth scene, especially across mainland Europe. Leitbild is their tenth studio album,
which is an impressive milestone to say the least. Blutengel isn't a rock band in the conventional sense, as most, if
not all, of the instruments on this record are programmed. This lack of 'real'
instruments may be off-putting to a large sector of the Rock scene, which is
probably why they tend to reside in the dark shadows of the Goth scene, and
haven't branched out that much. To be fair, they're popular enough not to need
to, which helps them to maintain their artistic integrity. I also love how some
of the songs are sung in English, and others are in German, as it adds to the
character of the music.
Lead singer and main man Chris Pohl does the programming and has
the lion's share of the vocals, with Ulrike
Goldmann providing some female vocals here and there, with the exception
being the excellent song Immortal,
where she takes the lead.
The albums' first single Complete is a lyrically beautiful piece
of Dark Electronica, and deals with the emotive subject of loss with a maturity
and depth that shows Chris Pohl's ability to tackle challenging subject matters, as
well as the usual supernatural themes normally associated with Blutengel. Waste My Time builds into one of the album's more aggressive
moments which pulses and pounds like the offspring of Combichrist and Depeche Mode.
Say Something has a Sisters of Mercy vibe but features some
uplifting keyboard parts in the chorus that give the song an interesting
dynamic. However, Black is probably
my favourite track here, and reminds me of The
69 Eyes, The Sisters of Mercy and
The Mission, while oozing every Goth
cliche imaginable with no shame whatsoever, and I love it for that. There's
even a cheeky nod to Joy Division
with the line "Black is the love
that tears us apart".
Leitbild is a long album with disc 1 clocking in at 73 minutes, but
fortunately doesn't suffer from any fillers. The limited edition comes with over
an hour's worth of bonus material including remixes and alternate versions,
making it a treasure trove of new material for fans to sink their teeth into.
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