Marco Minnemann – ‘Schattenspiel’ [Review]
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Music is freedom. It has no limits bar the human imagination and a given musician’s physical ability – and over the course of history, many have challenged those limits to find still more territory to explore. If you’re looking for a contemporary example, look no further than Marco Minnemann.
True artists have their own voice, their own signature style. You can tell it’s them within a few bars at the most. In Marco Minnemann’s case, those bars are unlikely to fit some standardized 4/4 cookie cutter mould. Neither will his chords of choice be…shall we say…orthodox. The same, of course, goes for his melodies.
Schattenspiel – German for ‘shadow play’ – is an appropriately dark album that sees Marco Minnemann push through a set of often ruminative, depressive, and morbid music. Minnemann’s trademark sense of humour is naturally present, most notably on Sandwich (during which two robotic voices enter a surreal domestic argument) and Krampus (juxtaposing comedy effects with deep metal riffs before turning serious), but for the most part Schattenspiel remains an intense, uncomfortably complex, and challenging ride through its author’s inner soundscape.
For me, the songs that best sum Schattenspiel up have to be All Your Blessings (Didn’t Help), the title track itself, Cut The Thread (And Let It Fall), and Sleepwalker. Harsh, powerful, gut-wrenching – the above are all the above and more. Within their ranks, Cut The Thread and Sleepwalker see Minnemann channel Korn’s Jonathan Davis, Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor, and Tool’s Maynard James Keenan in a pair of standout vocal performances that come off raw, soul-baring, and cathartic as only Marco Minnemann is capable of being.
That said, there are lighter moments on Schattenspiel too. Wintertime is a warm and heartwarming love song; Throw A Stone (To Break A Glass) is this album’s resident prog epic, running close to ten minutes and collapsing exhausted just after the halfway point into gentle acoustic strumming, lead synth lines, piano and strings; and closing song Don’t Be Yourself sits suspended between light and shade thanks to some Zeppelin-evoking acoustic work. This is by no means a one-dimensional long-player.
Overall, Schattenspiel proves itself balanced, poised, and measured. I’ve written so many borderline-evangelical words about Marco Minnemann’s past work that coming up with new ways to conclude these reviews is a near impossible, neuron-traumatising task. The guy is a brilliant, one-of-a-kind artist being himself, as every artist in the world should.
This is how that’s done.
TMMP RATING: 100% (Essential Listening!)
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Schattenspiel is available on CDBaby here now.
Marco Minnemann official website.