Rasthof Dachau / Krieger – Denn dein ist das Reich

My first acquaintance with Rasthof Dachau, a project from Austria, was when I saw their “Blut und Boden” boxset for a huge amount of money on that well-known online marketplace. I decided to download this album to save “some” money and was pleasantly surprised by the majority of tracks on the album. The music varied more or less from more laid-back soundscapes to infectious and even danceable noise. So when I had the opportunity to buy the latest R.D. output on a very limited cd-r I of course didn’t hesitate.

When listening to it for the first couple of times the music struck me as being far away from extreme or harsh. I would even say that the music sounds like a soundtrack, the first track immediately has some sort of movie-feeling; one can hear various orchestral samples, spoken vocals and thunderstorms, combined with a slow beat. The following tracks all carry a more religious feeling, with various choirs and sounds of praying men woven through the music. The title track is quite relaxing to be honest, I really like the simple yet effective drumming beat carrying the christian choirs and prayers. But the absolute best track is the third one, no doubt about that. “Pfad Gottes” starts with a quite aggressive prayer combined with a really cool loading gun sample, leading to the most noisy track on the album. Although this track isn’t any faster it sounds very energetic: “Pfad Gottes” consists of a slow beat, a vibrating synth reminding of November Növelet, and distorted screaming vocals. I wouldn’t mind hearing this one on the dancefloor! Finally, this mini-album ends with an atmospheric track, again with samples and choirs.

Well, I enjoyed this release quite a bit. It would be the perfect soundtrack for a movie about aggressive christian crusaders ready to conquer the rest of the world… If you have a chance to buy it, don’t hestitate. The cd-r version is sold-out I guess, but there is also a vinyl version which is limited to 450 copies and probably still available through various mailorders.

artist: Rasthof Dachau / Krieger
label: Steinklang
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