Album Review: Die Nerven – ‘Out’

‘Out’ is the third LP release, by Stuttgart post-punk trio Die Nerven.

I am delighted that this found it’s way to me via Ben Lynch at PinDrop Publicity – just the other day, I was reminiscing about John Peel having introduced me to Xmal Deutschland and Einstürzende Neubauten back in the day, courtesy of one of those Facebook requests, that put you on the spot about listing 7 formative tracks in 7 days. (Yes you, John Westhaver!).

I am generally happiest in a minority, oftentimes even in “an army of one”, as Tony Soprano would have termed it.

This, combined with a childhood fascination for all things suitably Wagnerian-Teutonic, made the choice of German, 2 classrooms, over French, 7 classrooms, going into secondary school an easy one. Sadly the educational aspect of the German language was all but lost in the fact that, all the crazy bastards the teachers didn’t want disrupting their French classes, became obstreperous pariah’s to our beleaguered enlightenment.

As a result, I think it’s fair to say that I picked up more German in 3 months of listening to Xmal and Neubauten, than I did in 3 years at school…

As a Scot whose native language has been all but decimated, in the relentless anglicised march of neoliberal globalisation, I think it is fantastic and to be applauded, when a band choose to release material in their mother tongue, retaining the local subtleties and nuances, in the face of homogenous mundane uniformity.

‘Die Unschuld In Person’, opens to brooding restrained possibilities, unleashing a measured malevolence, equivocal virtue scrutinised; ‘Barfuß Durch Die Scherben’, extols rhythmic discord, an irresistible barbed hooked gem; ‘Jugend Ohne Geld’, a simmering ,’Slice Of Life’-like, smouldering menace, the Joy Division undercurrents, imparting a mesmeric anthem for the dispossessed; ‘Dreck’, is a 3 minute sonic workout, an anguished faecal contaminant exposé; ‘iPhone’, gallops in raucous exuberance, then canters with jagged transient expression, before crawling on it’s belly, wrapped in bitter unrest…

‘Den Tag Vergessen’, is a bass driven delight, an up-beat, embracive paean to transformative renewal; ‘Gerade Deswegen’, has an unrestrained urgency, a gloriously rapturous noise-fest – precisely because…; ‘Wüste’, displays a deliberately leaden pace, a parched fatigue, shimmeringly mirage-soaked with tumultuous fevered finale; ‘Ich Habe Gelogen’, weighs heavily with the anguished burden of deceit, a musical masterpiece in restrained volatility; Album closer, ‘Hast Du Was Gesagt?’, restores the serrated jazz-flourished urgency, the punctuated laboured poignancy, clashing stridently in structured exhaltation…

‘Out’ enmeshes the listener, it’s enveloping, “different colours, different shades”, chiaroscuro framework, allowing ample breathing space within this stylised ‘ideal for living’…

Die Nerven are, Julian Knoth (Voice, Bass), Max Rieger (Voice, Guitar) and Kevin Kuhn (Drums) and ‘Out’ is available now from Glitterhouse Records.