Even though all the collaborators are quite distinctive in sound and style, they managed to pour their magic into Sankt Otten’s music in a way that intensifies but doesn’t overshadow.
Stephan Otten (drums, programming, synthesizers) and Oliver Klemm (guitars, bass, synthesizers) founded Sankt Otten already in 1999, and since then released six full length albums. On Messias Maschine—the seventh full length by the German duo—the exploration of krautrock and space music regions continues, but this time together with an impressive battery of influential, luminary figures in the electronic and avant-garde fields. Apart from the wistful “Die Messias Maschine,” every track features the unique flavors of a collaborator. Even though all the collaborators are quite distinctive in sound and style, they managed to pour their magic into Sankt Otten’s music in a way that intensifies but doesn’t overshadow.
Messias Maschine presents a stream of music that flirts with darkness and light, gloom and hope. Fizzling lush layers of synthesizers, guitar and bass twirl and pulsate upon a solid, laboratorial sounding construction of propulsive drums. Flavors from different generations flow together fittingly. From Jaki Liebezeit (Can) to A. E. Paterra (Majeure/Zombi), and from Harald Grosskopf (Ashra/Klaus Schulze) to Ulrich Schnauss, Coley Dennis (Maserati) and more.
There isn’t anything groundbreaking or new here, it’s all been done before, but as opposed to many recent retro-style dishes that popped up in recent years Messias Maschine is the real thing. It’s as if the album magically came out of the 70s, went through the 80s, then landed here in our time and armed itself with modern, more elegant production. The Sankt Otten boys do their own thing, in their own way, without copycatting. As usual from Denovali, the physical versions of the album feature special artwork and great packaging. This time the artwork was done by Salustiano, who continues his cooperation with Sankt Otten after doing the artwork for the previous two releases Gottes Synthesizer and Sequencer Liebe.
Messias Maschine is available on Denovali. [Release page]
