Pakt - Freiheit.
Chris Ruiz and Gio van Oli, formerly of And One, have left to release this frantic and vicious little single ‘Freiheit’ under the name Pakt. Unsurprisingly, these Industrial/futurepop veterans have put together, in their words, some “damn thrilling music in the border between EBM, NDW, and electropop. In ‘Freiheit,’ they pack in tons of aggression, pounding bass, danceable synths, and, if you speak German, some satirical catch phrases. The drums keep everything catchy and upbeat while the synths, while full and warm, avoid ambience at all costs. The result is a catchy, subversive German Industrial anthem that is somehow both poppy and aggressive. The remixes on this single don’t differ too much from the original – they all feature the same synth riffs – but they do flesh out the different angles the band could have performed from. The DAF remix strips down the song, removing most of the sung vocals, leaving just the driving drum beat, the alternating synth patterns, and the growled/whispered vocals. The Funker Vogt remix is much more ambient with a lot of glitch effects swirled, which keeps up the intensity, but isn’t quite the riot anthem that the original track was. Formalin’s take on the song adds a crazier drum beat, an extra synth that compliments the vocals, some ambience to up the intensity, and a lot of zap effects that play into the drum beat. While these effects make the song much more jaw dropping and intense, they do shift the focus of the song to hard hitting instruments, instead of the vocals that drove the original song. The other song on this single, ‘Angriff,’ is very similar in spirit and approach to ‘Freiheit,’ and even adds gang vocals to and ambience to make it feel even more like a revolutionary anthem. This is a new creation from some weathered industrial veterans to build anticipation for their recently released LP. Whether you have the LP or not, check this single out as well – Formalin’s rework is definitely worth your time and if you don’t have the LP, this is what will persuade you that you need it. Pakt have set out to be revolutionaries, and this is their first step.
Pakt – Freiheit is avaialble now via Out Of Line Music.
