Album Review: BLUTENGEL - Fountain Of Destiny

01. The Wild Boys [Duran Duran cover]
02. Forever Young [Alphaville cover]
03. Hymn [Ultravox cover]
04. Down in the Park [Tubeway Army cover]
05. Alone [Heart cover]
06. Silent Running [Mike & The Mechanics cover]
07. Nobody’s Diary [Yazoo cover]
08. Dr. Mabuse [Propaganda cover]
09. The Sun Always Shines on TV (Blutengel Version) [A-Ha cover]
10. Ship of Fools [Erasure cover]
11. Unsere Zeit
12. Journey To The Edge Of The Night

 

Recorded during the pandemic lockdown, Fountain Of Destiny is a covers album, with a couple of original tracks tagged on. My guess is that this was created to generate a bit of cash while the band is unable to tour. That's not a criticism, as musicians are having to do what they can to stay afloat. 

In a way, one of the benefits of the international lockdown is that artists have had some downtime off the road to focus on writing material and taking the time to do projects that they've probably been wanting to do for a while, but hadn't had the time due to tour schedules and life in general. So maybe, we should thank the Coronavirus for giving us Fountain Of Destiny?

Anyway, as you may know, I love Blutengel, so the prospect of an album of them covering classic and slightly lesser known tracks from the 80's really appealed to me.

All of the songs on here are gems. Every single one. Blutengel have fortunately done each track justice, balancing faithfulness to the original with their own sound and character. Some of the song choices are a little unexpected, such as their stripped back piano driven version of Heart's Alone, and their A-Ha cover, which is significantly different to the original. In honesty, I prefer this new version to the latter.

Some songs suit Blutengel a little more than others, such as their wonderful version of Silent Running and Down In The Park. I also love their cover of Alphaville's Forever Young.

Overall, Fountain Of Destiny is great fun, very listenable, and a more than welcome 'stop-gap' until we receive their next studio album of original material.