Kontrast
Imperium Tyrannis
Welcome to the Kontrast Empire! Sure, dictators are on everyone's lips. But it's somewhat surprising that the electronic dance group Kontrast addresses this theme on their new album "Imperium." Are Formulator Roberto and his fellow musicians planning to enter politics in their later years? Not at all. Rather, on their sixth album, they cast their characteristically cynical gaze on the current world situation and-almost casually-indoctrinate their listeners with an undeniable command to dance that no one dares to disobey. Six years after their most recent work "Unstoppable," "Imperium" casts its massive shadows-a concept work in the classical sense, soaked in lyrical explosive power. While the pieces are very diverse and multi-layered, all the lyrics on the new Kontrast album follow a dark thread: In a dystopian future, a dictator rules, having his manifesto proclaimed from a monumental broadcasting hall by his lovely propaganda minister, training his subjects to become mindless dance machines. Only a few brave souls rebel against the system -like the Cassette Man, who uses a supposedly outdated medium to spread his critical theses. After all, how can one endure a life where even listening to Depeche Mode is punishable? When the propaganda minister's partner-frustrated by his lack of perspective as a small cog in the machinery of the empire -departs for another planet, she finally embraces her true sexual identity as a vampire lesbian, thereby giving the signal for revolution..."Imperium" is a monumental demonstration of power