Ende Neu

Reissue of the seventh album from 1996 with reworked artwork and enhanced bonus material.

Emerging from Berlin at the dawn of the '80s, Einstürzende Neubauten crafted a distinctive postpunk, proto-industrial sound that the group is still expanding on 18 years later. Typically, a Neubauten track combines abrasive machine sounds and the simplest of musical elements - spare bass lines, aggressive chants, thudding beats - to produce surprisingly atmospheric music.

Was Ist Ist embodies the band's punk-plus-machine attack, while "Installation No 1" throbs with the pulse that spawned a thousand industrial groups. But the album's most striking tracks recall the work of dramatic artists like Leonard Cohen and Serge Gainsbourg more than raging power tools. Not a surprise when you consider that singer-guitarist Blixa Bargeld has played with cabaret rockers The Bad Seeds and that Neubauten members have scored numerous films and theater works.

A highlight of the album is the exquisite "Stella Maris" - a lovely duet sung by Bargeld and actress Meret Becker, accompanied by strings.