Maruta Kommand

"Holocaust Rites" (Album, 2000)

Kokampf

I first heard Maruta Kommand at the debut Armalyte Industries live event at London's Underworld in February last year (2001). I didn't expect to find much of interest in their noise but was both surprised and pleased that I did. Theirs is quite apparently a thoughtful (and thought-provoking) approach to death industrial that interweaves a political and historically-reflective message into their barrage of brutal yet well-structured songs.

Tracks titles such as Executioners, Mass Grave, Machinery of Death and Creeping Death unleash just what you might expect. The Ragnarok Prelude that opens this debut long player is a deeply sinister rumbling - the calm before the storm. Over fourteen tracks, Maruta Kommand throw themselves into the horrors that mankind is capable of and, unlike some, always seem to keep a sense of perspective about their work. That's not to say they are detached from the subject matter - the opposite in fact. Where Maruta Kommand excel is in how they articulate terror through their compositions. Not for them the non-stop, fast-as-possible, simplistic speed noise approach. The clever structures of Executioners are where MK's distinctiveness lies and not in the more predictable patterns of European Deathmarch.

Vocals are often quite low in the mix, relatively free of substantial distortion, which is a refreshing departure for this genre. Numerous, brief instrumentals punctuate throughout proving that Maruta Kommand can run the range of emotions from anger and aggression to forgiveness and perhaps even hope. Shot through with introspection, but never wallowing in self-indulgence, Maruta Kommand's debut demonstrates an adventurous and fascinating, if (appropriately) sometimes 'difficult' album; evidently made with both passion and some skill. 6/10

Rob Dyer