Few music projects from the dark genre pull from such an enormous assortment of different genres so effortlessly, using them to do whatever may strike the fancy of the ladies at the moment.
Not just EBM, synth pop elements, electro punk or dark wave, but also indie guitar pop, metal influences, tango, acoustic music from trumpets and recorder flutes or even a parody of spaghetti Western scores worthy of Ennio Morricone’s works - all this and more finds its place in this stylistically opulent album.
This new opus was produced in the legendary Studio Nord in Bremen by two musical geniuses active and revered far beyond just the dark scene: Mixer Gregor Hennig and arranger Hans-Jürgen Osmers.
With this, lead singer Aranea Peel had all the tools to perfectly adapt and realize the ideas around the theme of BDSM in a musical context.
After all, BDSM is the core theme of Grausame Töchter, and this album shows that these experts of sadomasochism have much more to say about it than one might expect.
The intelligent songs often show deeper meanings at a closer glance. The broad selection of songs is characterized by variety: There are darkly romantic songs like “Schmerz” and “Verboten”, macabre comedic pieces like “Katz und Maus”,
satirical and downright wicked ones like “Annika wird Filmstar” and “Arroganz muss man sich leisten können”, comical pulp like “Duelo en Mexico”, nightmarish visions such as “Schlaflied”,
erotic statements like “Meine Droge heißt Sex” and also songs like “Norden, Süden, Osten, Westen” which offer scathing commentary on worldly affairs.
Philosophy and poetry with almost Brecht-like lucidity are shamelessly placed alongside the hedonistic urges of dominant female artists.
This might not be noticeable if the album is heard parenthetically, but if given full attention, it will serve as marvelous entertainment.
Their way of dealing with music, themes and lyrics are exactly as revealing and uninhibited as their picturesque stage shows. And while you might expect such artists to get stuck in the mud of their own genre, “Grausame Töchter” show a lustful and intelligent vitality that is second to none. Considering that, it is unsurprising that the bizarre girl group is now among the scene’s top attractions. And whoever finds it all a little too shrill or even painful is retorted by Aranea Peel in one of the songs: “Schmerz ist Liebe“, or: “Pain is Love”.
