Mindstrip was a.......interesting album. It wasn’t by any means horrible (It’s actually one of my favorite albums), but it’s perhaps one of the bleakest I’ve ever heard. Fortunately for today’s album, we won’t be delving into dark matters (Not on a massive scale, at least), and instead we’ll be embracing a more colorful pallette of emotions. We’ll be feeling love, sensuality, fear, the unknown, hope, and many others. So, sit back, relax, and take a look at my review for Unheilig’s first album, Phosphor.
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| 2001 Original Release |
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| 2009 Re-Release |
Taken from the wikipedia page:
“In 1999, together with Grant Stevens (writer of the song “Everlasting Friends” featured in a Holsten Pilsener commercial on German television) and José Alvarez-Brill (Wolfsheim, Joachim Witt, De/Vision) the foundation for Unheilig was laid by Der Graf.
The single "Sage Ja!" (Say Yes!) was released on Bloodline Records in 1999, shot straight into the German DAC charts and became a club smash. In February 2001, the debut album “Phosphor” came on to the European market again on Bloodline/Connected Music.”
There are two other things about this album from Wikipedia, and they’re rather strange facts. For starters, the artwork for Phosphor was taken from the video Sage Ja (Click on the example below, and you’ll notice the similarities). The other strange fact about this album is more puzzling, and that’s the fact that Phosphor is the only album in which English was used. Apart from some singles and remixes, Der Graf hasn’t sung in English since.
Songs
Die Macht (The Power)(“***”): Phosphor starts off with Die Macht, a slow & surprisingly gothic sounding song. The instrumentation is slow throughout the whole tune, composed mainly of guitars, drums, and a piano/keyboard combination. Again, the instrumentation is slow, but they keep a steady pace, and the mood they make is both dark & passionate. Der Graf’s singing matches the instruments: slow, ponderous, yet melodic, and full of emotion. An interesting song to start off this album, if you ask me.
Willenlos (Will-Less)(“***”): Talk about whiplash! Willenlos is the exact opposite of the opening song. For starters, it’s not slow like Die Macht was. It opts for a faster pace/beat, and sound at home in a techno/dance club. Secondly, the instrumentation focuses mainly on the keyboard, which creates a variety of sounds in this song. Drums & guitars take a back seat, but they can still be heard. About the only thing that’s somewhat similar to Die Macht is Der Graf’s singing. He still sings in a soft voice, but the speed of his singing matches up to how fast the instruments play. Overall, a good song to dance to.
Ikarus (“***”): The first song on this album sung in English, Ikarus is basically a romanticized version of the Icarus myth. The instrumentation goes in a gothic direction, incorporating darker tones & chanting, but it has a faster pace that’s not typical among gothic songs. The singing is well done: Der Graf goes between loud, low, and soft tones in a very fluid manner, without stumbling at any point. Pretty impressive, if you ask me!
Sage Ya (Say Yes)(“***”): There’s a reason why this song was chosen as the single off of Phosphor. Firstly, it feels like another song that’s great for the dance floor in the clubs. It’s fast, intense, and the balance between the drums & guitars, not to mention the keyboard, is just perfect! Secondly/finally, we have Der Graf’s singing. There’s a great deal of power in his voice, and he goes between soft & loud at the drop of a hat. Simply put, this is one song that you don’t want to listen to when sitting down!
Armageddon (“***”): Armageddon is to me a good, and a bad song. It’s good in that the singing is still great. Der Graf and his backup have great voices, and they shift their tones just as fluidly as they did in Ikarus. However, the song is bad because it sounds very similar to Ikarus. While the beats are different, they still keep the same mood and atmosphere from that song. Considering the amount of variety on here, it’s rather surprising.
My Bride Has Gone (“***”): My Bride Has Gone is perhaps one of the most emotional songs on Phosphor. For starters, it’s about someone’s bride (Der Graf’s bride, perhaps?) dying. Who wants that? Secondly, Der Graf’s voice never becomes loud at any point. He goes for a soft & mournful tone when he sings, and if he was to get louder in any way, it would ruin the mood of the song. Finally, the instrumentation accompanies the singing nicely. It also doesn’t raise it’s volume, but at the same time keeps a steady intensity, and incorporates some gothic elements like Ikarus did. Keep a tissue around when you listen to this!
Komm Zu Mir (Come To Me)(“***”): Just like Armageddon, Komm Zu Mir is a good & bad song. It’s good because the instrumentation & singing are top-notch, but it’s bad because it sounds too much like another song (In this case, Komm Zu Mir sounds a lot like Sage Ya). Despite this problem, Komm Zu Mir is my favorite of the German-speaking songs on Phosphor, with Sage Ya not that far behind.
Close Your Eyes (“***”): Close Your Eyes is a very simple song. The beat hardly changes, the vocals are heavy but emotional, and the instruments are also simplistic but powerful (They go for more of a percussion-focused sound this time around). This song also seems to be positive than some on Phosphor, but you need something nice to balance out what’s bad.
The Bad and the Beautiful (“***”): If Close Your Eyes was simplistic, then this song goes for more of an epic route. Der Graf’s singing in this sounds like he’s reading a tragic winter’s poem, as evidenced by his shifting between soft & melodic, to loud & tormented. This “epic” tone is also evidenced by the instrumentation: you have guitar and drums, but there’s also bells/chimes, and orchestral accompaniment. It all adds up to a beautiful song that you can’t afford to miss.
Discover the World (“***”): Out of all the English-sung songs on Phospher, Discover the World is perhaps my favorite. It has a simple beat, but it knows how to dip into the metal side of things when it needs to. Der Graf’s singing in this is just great: He keeps his voice at a even level throughout the whole song, but knows when to change it at the right time. Finally, Discover the World just hits me in the right place. I can’t quite explain why, but for some reason it seems to resonate with me.
Skin (“***”): Skin marks the end of the English-sung songs on Phosphor. This song is both nice, but creepy as well. It’s nice because Der Graf really seems to convey his feelings in this song. He wants to be a girl’s shield/courage/etc, and the instrumentation seems to back up these sentiments. What I find creepy about Skin is that he wants to do be my crawling into said skin. There’s been plenty of songs that sing something like this, but for some reason it seems strange here. Maybe I’m overreacting, maybe not.
Stark (Strong)(“***”): If you ever needed a sad-sounding song to end a movie, then I suggest you listen to Stark. Throwing out the guitars, drums, and keyboard, this song instead relies on some beautiful piano work and cellos. Der Graf’s singing in Stark sounds as if the angels have descended from Heave, and decided to sing for us. Granted that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but his voice sounds about that perfect. If you need a cry, then listen to this.
Overall Impression & Rating
I’ve seen this comment (worded in various ways) in many Unheilig videos, and that’s “Like Rammstein, but classy”. I definitely agree: while I enjoy Rammstein very much (Hell, they’re my number 3 band of all time!), more often than not they come across as basic, and perhaps a little sexist. With Unheilig, he has that raw intensity, but he’s able to supplement his music with emotion and melodies that aren’t the norm for industrial metal. If you want a more classy kind of industrial artist, find Unheilig, and put Phosphor into your CD player.
Phosphor gets a 8.5 to 9.2 out of 10.
See you all next time, when we’ll look at some of my favorite album covers. Until then, stay Otaku
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If any of you were wondering, I vastly prefer the original 2001 album cover to the 2009 version. It was a perfect contrast to the various emotions of the album, whereas the 2009 re-release cover made me feel a little uncomfortable. Maybe it’s the fact that Der Graf has very piercing eyes. Who knows?
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