Nitzer Ebb - Belief

Great music; horrible lyrics; overall good album

Nitzer Ebb's BELIEF starts off on a good note with the excellent track "Heats and Mind," but unfortunately, the rest of the album is plagued by petty problems. The major complaint with this album that I have is the lyrics. Any adolescent, 13-year-old boy with a dark sense of humor and an unexplainable (yet typical) anger within him could write these childish lyrics. Just thinking about lines like "You are so you," "I'm driving on the edge," and "There's no faith, no feeling, and no good" make you feel like an angst-ridden teenager all over again, and some of you may not want to relive these strange feelings again.

However, the brilliant music is superb, and it outshines any of the music on SHOWTIME. My personal favorites are "Captivate," "Shame," and "Drive." All of them are prime examples of Nitzer Ebb songs, and perhaps that's why this album suffers: it is a typical album from Nitzer Ebb. No new ground is explored here, and even if the music is better then on their other albums, it still sounds the same, and the lyrics are truly terrible.

A good album overall, but the lyrics are a definite bust. It may deserve higher, but I'm going to give it a solid 4-stars. Don't get me wrong, this is a good album, it's just not my favorite March 10, 2006

Awesome album.

For a long time this was the only album I owned. I was 15 years old in 1989 and I don't think that that year would have been half as cool without this record.
All that I had known of Nitzer Ebb prior to buying the Belief album was the 'boom snare boom snare boom snare ALAAAAARM boom snare boom snare' of That Total Age, which didn't really impress me.
Belief had more depth, and with a string of really great singles from the UK (don't ever buy the Sire Records crap) (pay the extra couple of bucks for the original Mute Records presses).
There are some really cool flipsides to the singles that came out for Belief like KIA, Time Slips By, and Backlash. These songs are impossible to find in most of the online mp3 searches, but are worth your money to check out, as are the remixed versions of the singles. January 22, 2006

The BEST by this band

This was the first Nitzer Ebb album I'd ever heard and it was released just before I entered high school, a time when I had just discovered "good" music that not only made an impression on me, but probably shaped me into who I am today.

I bought it as a cd in the "longbox" and cut out the images to staple to my bedroom wall, and later, taped to my rear passenger car window.

That being said, BELIEF holds some nostalgic qualities for me. When I first got a car and drove to high school, everyday I'd play a cassette dub of BELIEF and time my way there-- (I knew that by the time Shame came on, I'd be parallel parking).

BELIEF is a great album in it's own right, across the board--especially pre- Trent Reznor--but it is also for me the best Nitzer Ebb album. I remember blasting this and Einsturzende's Strategies 2 from a crappy red Datsun. Ah the memories.

Fortunately, the album still holds up, and while I don't listen to much recent 'industrial' or 'ebm' music (it's just cheesy and derivative) I will listen to this, and I will love it.

You should too.

(PS. What is up with those samples on this page? That's not NE!!!!) August 1, 2005

Belief ~ Nitzer Ebb

This 1989 release being their second album proved that Nitzer Ebb was not some flash in the pan and that they could branch out and not always play DAF like music. Douglas Mccarthy is an very much under appreciated singer and his vocals on Belief is nothing short of great. The lyrics are biting and satirical and proves that both Harris and Mccarthy are quite accomplished lyricists in their own right. This album showcases some of the best of ebm music and has amazing tracks such as hearts and minds, captivate, shame and of course the classic track control Im here. The book-let is terrible and there are no lyrics, no information about the equipment and the cover art looks cheap. Even so, I love this and see it as one of the best ebm albums ever recorded. April 26, 2005

Driving on the edge.....

It was the first Nitzer Ebb material to establish them as more than just electro-militants. Alright, most of that attitude resurfaces here. However, Belief does some serious EBM branching out. For one thing, the lyrics are not just restricted to raging chants and loose rants. There is some by-the-books singing happening here, most notably in cuts like"Hearts & Minds" and "Captivate". Belief also has some experimental stuff going on, instrumental uneasiness (TWA)and Slow-mo-ed percussion (Drive).

But the real highlights off this lp are the ones that can be heard in the underground clubs. For instance, "Shame" is somewhat popular to this day and age in certain places. I was a bit surprised when I heard it being played a while back. More so when people were dancing to it without batting an eye.

To state the obvious, Belief was the first interesting Nitzer Ebb cd. This was when the EBM outfit were getting creative and coming out with some lasting melodies. They were coming into their own and EBM itself was just getting better and better.















April 24, 2005

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