I have a long history of pushing Schwefelgelb on this site. From the first time I heard Dunkel Vor Den Augen Uns I have been totally hooked on their synthesis of techno and EBM. Ten records later I’m still finding their interpretations of the genre the most compelling of any EBM act out there.
Der Rest Der Nacht, Schwefelgelb’s latest release, hits immediately. “Impulskörper” slams out of the gate with an incredibly hard hitting kick and minimal composition. Slowly building, Schwefelgelb layers on hats and bass. It’s fully a minute and half before we get some semblance of a melody, and even the melody, when introduced, feels percussive.
Something Schwefelgelb consistently does well is create songs that, despite averaging around 6 minutes in length, manage to have such movement and evolution that you never really have a chance to get bored with what’s happening. Just when a rhythm starts to feel like it’s about to get repetitive, they hit a switch up, moving to a new bassline or making significant changes to percussive soundscape, and pull you straight back into the movement of the track.
You can really hear this expert construction on the“Lichtenberg-Figur”, a 7 minute long absolute banger of a track. Starting with a simple four on the floor backed by a percussive melody, the track soon cuts the kick and introduces off-beat hat hits. This moves to a simple vocal section that introduces some subtle variations in the kick rhythm and some distorted hits. Before you know it, the song cuts away to a sort of rave stab melody that completely changes the feel of the song. Schwefelgelb goes on to use subtle variations on the earlier percussive melody and the rave stab melody to ensure that the track keeps you moving and unconcerned with its length.
When confronted with tracks like “Horizont,” with its stuttering kick, rolling stabs, and compressed to hell percussion, I find myself involuntarily jumping around, dancing, hooting and hollering in my room, pulling out my hair in disbelief of just how good it makes me feel. When you break down what’s happening at any given point, you find there are not that many layers there - despite sounding maximalist at points, the choices Schwefelgelb makes in their compositions are clearly very intentional, with nothing more than what’s needed to achieve their desired effect.
The final track is a remix from Randomer. It’s always hard to imagine taking a Schwefelgelb track and turning it up. Everything is already so well constructed that it requires a full reimagining to pull off a good remix of Schwefelgelb’s work. Well, “Wie Viel Haut” is certainly re-imagined here. Ripping acid synths roar over a wild, driven, and absolutely unhinged reconfiguration of the track. It hits me in a completely different way, but still manages to never be boring and keeps my head slamming from start to finish.
If you haven’t dipped your toes into the discography of Schwefelgelb, Der Rest Der Nacht is absolutely a great place to start. There’s not a bad track on the release, and when played at high volume I imagine you’ll find it as hard to sit still as I did.
Schwefelgelb is a techno project based in Berlin. You can find Der Rest Der Nacht on Schwefelgelb’s Bandcamp.