"NADA!"

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Total Tracks: 16   Total Length: 70:13

eMusic Review

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Peter Parrish

eMusic Contributor

04.22.11
The birth of industrial folk.
1985 | Label: Soleilmoon Recordings / Iris

In attempting to destroy the boundaries of taste some groups will go to any lengths, driven, presumably, by a gnawing desire to shock and disgust. At least, that's hopefully the way Death in June would seek to excuse an otherwise disappointing flirtation with Nazi imagery (rearing its head here in the form of “C'Est Un Reve,” an ode to Klaus Barbie). Mind you, it's hardly a massive leap from “Behind the Rose (Fields of Rape)” and “The Torture Garden” to namechecking notorious war criminals. With such horrific subject matter as a base, it might come as surprise to learn that the album makes extensive use of acoustic guitars. Yes, they're drenched in reverb and generally twinned with baritone chanting or eerie samples, but it's still a little unexpected. Consistently unnerving, packed with ominous beats and forging an experimental path with disquieting synth effects, NADA! shows that Death in June are talented enough to produce a record which overcomes their "edgy" baggage. Industrial-folk is born.

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il est dans le coeur noir

Glyndwr1969

I always took 'C'est un reve' to be about the nazi within, the bad conscience that turns ordinary, 'normal' citizens into mass murderers in the name of obedience, rather than an ode to Klaus Barbie. Having just come back from a day working in an office, I find nothing to disagree with when Doug chants 'Liberte, c'est un reve!' (Liberty is a dream): it's a Burroughsian hell out there!. 'Torture Garden,' is a killer DIJ track, with its sampled gregorian chant of 'death, where is thy victory?' cycling endlessly, as Patrick evokes the murderous playgroud of Mirbeau's novel of the same title. Just don't go anywhere near this album if you don't want to wallow very deep in utter darkness that most black metal bands couldn't even dream of.

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I'd like to enjoy this . . .

cowrun

but I can't get any of the tracks to download. I have no trouble downloading other albums. I've reported the problem and have yet to see it fixed. Please fix!

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They Say All Media Guide

Nada! was the breakthrough record where Death in June abandoned the mix of industrial noise, punk, and Joy Division-styled mayhem to embark on a new style of apocalyptical folk, and though Current 93, Death in June spin-off bands like Sixth Comm and Sol Invictus, and countless other groups on World Serpent followed that path, Death in June was one of the pioneers. Acoustic guitars feature heavily on “The Honour of Silence,” the short “Leper Lord,” “(Behind the Rose) Fields of Rape,” and “She Said Destroy,” most of them co-written with David Tibet of Current 93. In fact “Fields of Rape” has some of the same lyrics as the piece of the same name on Current 93′s nightmarish Dogs Blood Rising, but instead of mixing nursery rhyme and distorted screams with industrial noises, the Death in June version turns the piece into a rather catchy folk song, though one imbued to the core with gloom and decay. The rest of the album traverses similar territory, despair and torture, death and war, utter bleakness. A few of the tracks revert to the earlier Death in June of mechanical rhythms and strange sound effects, and “Crush My Love” offers strange repeated keyboard textures and droning vocals with some weird effects at the end. Except for the stupid “C’Est un Reve,” a piece about Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie, Nada! is excellent stuff. – Rolf Semprebon

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