Album Notes

After a 3 year absence, Skorbut came back in 2005 with their second album "Access All Areas". It should be underlined right away that the title of the album is a good metaphor for its content. From techno-like Electro to Industrial, Old School EBM and dark atmospheric tracks, the album offers a vast variety of music without losing its focus. Skorbut (which is a german word and translates to "scurvy") once again refuse to be pushed into one specific genre and consequently continue their own way of making music.

The story of Skorbut began in 1993 when Daniel Galda and Jörg Hüttner first met at the studios of "Das Ich" and immediately started to record first electronic-experimental influenced demo tracks. Both first achieved notoriety through their appearances in other bands (Jörg with "Relatives Menschsein" and "Dorsetshire", Daniel with "kAlte fArben" and as live keyboarder for "Das Ich"). Before their debut album "Log_In" hit the streets in 2001, they got support from Robert Pollich as a third member of the group.

In between the release of "Log_In" and the recordings for "Access All Areas", Jörg was active in the studio with working for "EverEve" and "Dreadful Shadows". Additionally, he also contributed to the soundtracks of the blockbuster movies "Catwoman" and "The Ring 2". Skorbut has enhanced their own musical skills significantly without losing ground with their first release. "Access All Areas" is a consistent advancement of Skorbut as a group, and a more than dignified successor for "Log_In".

And this is what the tracks of "Access All Areas" sound like:

The hammering opener "Hypostase" is a perfect start und will get the crowds going crazy, according to DJs. Distorted drums and a phenomenal depth distinguish the second song "In Zenith", when skillful industrial elements blaze down on "Spacenight" sounds. The musical journey comes back to the dance floor with "Super Sonic". Blistering bass lines and a dark voice proclaim breaking through the soundbarrier.

How would a cloned Jesus Christ find his way in today‘s times? This question is answered in the morbid melodical and ear-candy-ish "Toxic Jesus". It goes without saying for Skorbut‘s point of view that this has to end in crucifixion.

Subsequently, the listener gets properly knocked over by the track "Morbid Greetings". Very angry vocals get mixed with a subtly aggressive sound. With the minimalist and brutish hits "Stahlbad" and "Even If It Hurts", Skorbut perform a prostration for Old School EBM pioneers like DAF or Nitzer Ebb. In this manner, Skorbut reheat the dancefloors and shout out of their souls that which has long needed to be freed. After this retrospective, the band enters more experimental fields with "The World Is Beautiful". This song, with its barking 303-ish sound, might cause the assumption that the production process contained some banned substances.

The song "Paradise Parasites" is a felicitous mixture of Electro Pop and Wave. Remarkably, the songs wind down more and more towards the end of "Access All Areas", It feels like it’s entering a dusky chill-out area. With the voice sample "Was hättet ihr gern noch gemacht bevor ihr sterbt?" ("what would you like to have done before you die?") the song "Evakuierung der Seele" ("evacuation of the soul") starts the quieter part of the record, with brute German lyric poetry meeting dark musical melancholy. "Fragments" is more minimalist but no less alluring. Wide arrangements and a hypnotizing voice will fascinate the listener. The bitter-sweet melody of the last track "Moment of clarification" will leave it‘s marks in one‘s brain and lead the hands inevitably to the remote control to hit the repeat button for the whole album.

The variety of dark music genres, the vocals and moods make "Access All Areas" something outstanding in the current flood of releases of this music scene. Skorbut definitely don‘t create a new music style, but also are far from being a poor copy of existing artists. Self-confident, technically perfect, sophisticated and self-contained: Skorbut hand over a musical business card.

www.skorbut.net - www.myspace.com/skorbutgermany
www.sonic-x.de - www.myspace.com/sonicxrecords