by Rick Anderson
Now, these two do know how funny they are, right? Really, one must assume that they do, because the alternative assumption -- that the lederhosen, the affected German accents, and the tasteless flirtations with Nazi themes are actually meant as some kind of serious musical or cultural statement -- is simply too horrible to contemplate. Luckily, song titles like &S.S. Deathstar Supergalactik,& &Mein Kommandant,& and, most painful of all, &Third Reich from the Sun& make it pretty clear that they are dealing in a sort of high-camp make-believe here. (They're obviously only pretending to be German -- actual Germans would know how to pronounce the word &über.&) Close your eyes and go along with the charade, though, and you'll find yourself caught up in the music, which is a genuinely well-thought-out fusion of techno and industrial sounds with lots of guitars and tight, crunchy beats. The songs are densely constructed but not claustrophobic, and on tracks like &Transplutonian Annihilation& and the almost funky &Mein Kommandant& their combination of thick guitar textures, sharp drumming, and surprising world music influences (a faux sitar here, a sampled ululation there) is really pretty compelling. If they'd just outgrow the leather-fetish Nazi stuff, Hanzel und Gretyl could probably go places.