RPWL have been a going concern since 1997, when the German collective started life as a Pink Floyd cover band. Indeed, on Crime Scene, their eighth studio album, the Floyd influences still hold some sway, especially on the epic centrepiece, King of the World. However, it was the opening notes of Life in a Cage which caused me to turn around and wonder whether the iPad had skipped for some reason to another artist, and that artist was a certain Mr Phillip Collins – honestly, those opening bars are a ringer for In the Air Tonight, I swear. The rest isn’t, but it was somewhat discombobulating.
I have always enjoyed the melodious approach the band bring to their music, and this is as strong as ever on Crime Scene. However, this does rather belie the lyrical concept on display. For this is as dark and as bleak as a moonless night in the middle of nowhere. If you were to compare a crow’s arse for darkness to this album, said backside would sue you for defamation of character. The album concentrates on crime, or rather the parts of the human condition which lead people to commit the most appalling atrocities (necrophilia for light relief, anybody?), and the inherent evil which can reside within good. All very heavy stuff, referencing shocking humans such as Denke, “The Cannibal of Munsterberg” who killed and cannibalised scores of homeless vagrants, and Carl Tanzler, a rather bizarre chappie who lived out his altogether strange obsession with a young Cuban American tuberculosis victim by exhuming the corpse (as you do) and living with it for the following seven years.
This is, therefore, not an album for the fainthearted, and, indeed, I have seen a review on a website I respect a huge amount complaining that it is completely off the radar of decent taste and should have been left in the ideas room. I do not agree with this assessment. I have, for many years now, railed against censorship of artists and what they want to say. Good or bad taste is very much a personal thing, and one man’s decency is another’s obsession, and another’s evil. Art exists to talk to the human condition, and music should not be excluded from this. Intelligent writing and playing enables us to research, read, and learn, perhaps as much about ourselves as anything else, and this album is most certainly an intelligent discourse, not exploitative in any way, shape, or form.
The opening track, Victim of Desire, was also the first single released from the album, and the video is embedded below. I just love the opening guitar burst, which is suitably dramatic in its impact. The opening vocals are synthesised, evoking the sensations of evil trapped in the perpetrator’s head, the unseen side of an otherwise everyday human being. When the vocals normalise, and enter an almost dreamlike quality, the killer quite calmly and openly discusses the fact that he is the victim, that of desire, driven by the voices in his head, a concept, in fact recognisable by any criminal psychologist, which tells me that this intelligent track is not a normalisation of evil, but a discussion of the possible explanations without excusing it. The fear on the face of the woman being stalked by the serial killer before the lorry park is palpable and an all-too-common experience. Musically, the track is achingly sad with its rhythm set against the screaming guitar of Kalle Wallner and the confessional vocals of Yogi Lang, and the piece expands tremendously with the confrontation and arrest.
Red Rose follows. A gentle start to proceedings with guitar chords, light soaring keyboards and a yearning vocal, this track deals with Tanzler’s necrophilia, and interestingly talks in the voice of the dead victim speaking of her undying love. The bass riffs of Markus Grützner and the simple, yet deadly effective, drums of Marc Turiaux provide the dark underscore this subject deserves, and the guitar riff four minutes in is simply beautiful leading to the closing vocals which speak simply of love against the backdrop of the initial guitar chords, but expanded. Yes, this is a difficult subject matter, but written and performed as it is, with a sense of understanding of a clearly deeply disturbed man, it works extremely well, especially when research tells us that the real-life affair was treated as a form of pulp fiction for many years.
A Cold Spring Day in ’22 follows, and this is the second single from the album. It is the story of an entire family wiped out, and the official video provides an analogous reference to Germany between the two wars. The opening bars are almost playful, a sharp contrast to the story. You see the band walking, playing, paying tribute, and composing, and the initial riff by Wallner is lovely. I really like the drum pattern, but it is not really until the final minute and a half that I think the piece comes together, and it is perhaps no accident that this is the most blatantly commercial segment.
Life in a Cage features the Collins introduction. None of the rest sounds remotely like it. There is a darker mood about this track musically as well as the lyrical themes throughout the record. With screeching guitars, understated drum machine pattern, and such a yearning vocal, this track once again is written addressing those who cannot see beyond the walls with her living in a cage, being unable to fly any more. Some four minutes in, we have an extended instrumental section with an understated guitar which slowly expands and cries to us. Underneath this is a massive bass riff and Lang when he returns does so by bringing the main lyric to life with the band rocking out to the close. A very impressive piece of music.
King of the World is nearly thirteen minutes long. It is a tour de force. The opening bass riff and accompanying single drum thumps are monstrous and we are then introduced to some swirling keyboards and guitars – a collective statement of musical intent and very reminiscent in parts of our favourite 80’s and 90’s progressive music. When Lang begins to sing, he states “if I was king of the world, how could I show all the people the new world that’s to come”, you get a real sense of foreboding. Many murderers, serial killers, more than a few public figures, and certainly most politicians have extreme narcissistic tendencies. This is, of course, a spectrum. I like and enjoy receiving positive feedback about the words I write on this website – who wouldn’t? But it is that desire, that need translated into action to be the centre of attention, against which all revolves, that is to my mind the most frightening of human traits. He talks about making things the same for everyone with a smile. This is an incredible discourse on human nature, and how motives can be thoroughly alien from the mainstream, and the music which accompanies all of this is suitably and brilliantly panoramic. There is a strong lyrical nod to Floyd on The Final Cut when the lyrics talk about being king of the world and getting all the world’s leaders into a small place of their own, a la The Fletcher Memorial Home (a track, by the way, which was fundamental to my political development). Wouldn’t it be nice if it were just like that? Simple words but spoken and played with more than a bit of menace, especially those dark guitar breaks of Wallner, the darkly melodic bass, pounding urgent drum smacks, and the keyboards which strongly remind one of Wright’s playing on Animals. The music video posted by the band is embedded below – enjoy a very strong piece of music, especially that staggering widescreen noise of the final two minutes.
The album closer is Another Life Beyond Control, the opening noises of which are easily the weirdest on offer underpinned by a crashing rhythm section. When the vocals are introduced, “some are born to be good, and some are evil. Can you see it in their eyes?” – answer, no you cannot. The choral talking about the darkness in the soul again prompts the listener to imagine motives and thoughts of the perpetrator, whose life is beyond control, but, on the face of it, would not or could not hurt a fly. There is a very thoughtful guitar interlude three minutes in, initially with some high-flying synth notes, which then turn altogether heavier before the collective band re-enter to return to the main themes which segue into a strong keyboard extension which allows the listener to contemplate and come down a bit following which the opening themes are brought back with a strong head thumping vengeance in a world beyond control.
Crime Scene is a very good album. It is an extremely intelligent portrayal of the darker side of humanity. Musically, it is lush throughout and extraordinarily well performed. Lang & Wallner founded this band and have been recording for twenty-three years now. Turiaux continues to be a rock on drums, and newcomer Grützner seriously impresses on bass. My first RPWL Experience was that very album in 2008. Crime Scene is the sound of a band who continue to innovate and impress.