Einsturzende Neubauten: Silence Is Sexy

In the late '70s, Einsturzende Neubauten took the clinical, percussive music of Kraftwerk and went one step further: Utilizing power tools, clanking metal, and found sound as a form of catharsis, the group upped the intensity until its music made good on the promise of its moniker (which translates to "collapsing new buildings"). Einsturzende Neubauten's dedication to dramatically destroying, or at least re-envisioning, the very notion of music sometimes skirted the pretensions of performance art, but as subsequent generations of industrial bands began to sprout up in its wake, it became clear that the group's point had been heard. But with so many groups building their sound on that sturdy foundation, it's become tougher for the pioneering band to keep up the level of confrontation. Faux shock groups such as Rammstein all but parody the straight-faced intensity of German industrial music, making Einsturzende Neubauten's challenge doubly difficult. So, in an ironic twist, it's found its way into another decade by settling down: In an era of metal and industrial bands that offer nothing but red-faced aggression, Einsturzende Neubauten's subtle songs come as quite a (gasp!) shock. Silence Is Sexy is yet another collection of pointed and intriguing meditations (in German and English) on love, life, poetry, and metaphysics, with part-time Bad Seed Blixa Bargeld's creaky grumble drifting in and out of Goth territory. The metronomic clanks are still there, as are the gloomy bass-driven dirges, but the result is both pleasing and placating: Even the occasional burst of cacophony has its relaxing properties, but Silence Is Sexy isn't boring. It's downright gentle and resigned to its own distinctive rhythm, a deliberately paced album that's more a suite than a collection of songs.