Hi Invisibles of the night!
This is my attempt number two on creating a new format about the darker side of music. Although I make electronic music and that's what I'm focusing more in this moment, I'd like this format to include any kind and genre of music you think of that can match with the concept of #darkmusic, even in the lyrics, the intention or the message.
Blutengel are a project created by German artist Chris Pohl.
Chris is an active character in many areas. In fact, other than a singer and musician in various projects, he is also a music producer, an actor and is the head of a record label.
He was initially singer and composer in the darkwave project Seelenkrank together with singer Nina Bendigkeit, with whom he released 3 albums.
In 1998 he left Seelenkrank due to contractual issues with the label and founded Blutengel as a new version of the band, where he collaborated over the years with various female voices, dancers and visual artists. Since 2005 he has been in a musical partnership with Ulrike Goldmann.
By Exoport - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, wikipedia
Blutengel's discography is truly very rich and varied. It begins in 1999, the year Child of Glass was released. Being the only composer and musician of Blutengel, Chris adopts a totally electronic sound, made of drum machines, synthesizers and various types of samples. This first work is very minimal and simple and I have to say it hasn't aged very well 😅
Chris took the themes and intention of gothic rock and transported them into a genre closer to EBM -- Electronic Body Music, a darker variant of EDM, usually associated with BDSM environments and the German goth club scene. A peculiarity of his sound that keeps him very linked to the Gothic sphere is precisely the use of orchestrations, piano, organ and samples of bells and similar instruments, which recall the theme of the night and vampires, sacrilege and blood rituals, in a very fictional way.
We can leap forward to the seventh album Tranenherz (literally Tearful Heart - 2011), which represents a turning point in Blutengel's popularity thanks to the song Reich mir die hand (Give me your hand), one of the most played songs in their repertoire still today by various DJs who deal with the darkwave genre.
You can clearly hear the huge leap in musical production between the first album and this work. The sounds are more refined and well produced. The musical texture is more complex, with the classic piano sounds intertwining perfectly with the electronic dance base. The same can be said for the vocal duet between Chris and Ulrike. It's no coincidence that this album -- and this song in particular -- has become a cornerstone of the musical influences of the new goth generation.
Yet their most successful album is certainly the next, Monument (2013), in which we find the most listened to songs of their career, in particular You Walk Away.
What we notice about Monument compared to Tranenherz is a more aggressive, dance and, if possible, even darker turn, at least in the sound design and in treating the voices with a good dose of distortion, a typical aspect of modern EBM and industrial music.
This new sound will be maintained until today, becoming the sound with which Blutengel mainly recognize themselves. With also the addition electric guitar in some songs, accentuating the industrial side of the project even more.
As you might notice, the lyrics are primarily in German and English, often focusing on all aspects of love, from the tragedy of hopeless romance of vampires and aspects of death and the afterlife.
That's all for this episode of The Dark Side
Hope you enjoyed this presentation and I'm really curious to see what band or songs you would fit into this format 😃
Don't hesitate to tag me and use the #darkmusic topic 🦇
Blutengel have been my first music influence when my new music project was just an idea wandering in my mind. If you'd like to know more about who I am and what I do you can visit my website harbiter.com or my Instagram
