Genre: EBM / Electro
01 Open The Borders
02 Body Religion
03 Nothing Left To Believe
04 Hey You
05 Where's The Party?
06 A Simple Day
07 Vengeance
08 The Lady In The Rain
09 Ghouls and Ghosts
10 The End Is Near
11 Minute Men
12 Children Of The Night
13 The Queen Of Flowers
Its quite hard to place BAK XIII into a definite genre, EBM seems to be the closest but the band consists of so much more then what the general EBM scene has to offer. The band started out in 2001 with DDDMix and Baron von Smock as members. The first album was quite a breath of fresh air with its mixture of 80’s electro mixed with modern EBM similar to both Spetsnaz and Tyske Ludder. Ultima Ratio Regum is a heavily defined album that creates a perfect equilibrium between the various styles of danceable electro, EBM and various elements of pop and rock. This album is also the first in which they implement guitars played by Tenebras, an addition that makes some of the songs sound more like something cooked up by Die Krüpps. The lyrics are pretty straightforward and not really anything special for the EBM scene but still suit the music like a glove. Considering all these factors the songs are very well performed and vary in a very refreshing way from track to track.
One thing I really like about BAK XIII is their mix of different style in a refreshing way. Halfway into the album I wasn’t sure if I was listening to an EBM album with pop/rock influence or something entirely new and peculiar. I must say that this is what makes Ultima Ratio Regum interesting, the fact that you expect one sound and receives another. This is madness! No this is an EBM band from Schweiz who actually stands out from the crowd. Way to go! One very abhorrent thing about the album is that it contains a self-booting music video that took my computer by total surprise almost freezing it down. The video was very nice but generally I am not a fan of programs running themselves. I thrive in control! Anyway if you get the album check it out, I actually dig it, and that says something coming from a beast residing in the cliffs of northern Sweden.
The album opens up strongly with Open The Borders, a tune who can only be described as a hybrid between EBM music with pop lyrics and song. The song is danceable although quite slow but still delivers the message it wants in a delightful way. If I hadn’t heard the rest of the album I would have expected it to continue in the same style, this is however not the case. Body Religion is a more retro 80’s EBM song in the vein of Front 242 and Funker Vogt. The album is quite varied but by the time I reach the track Ghouls and Ghosts, a pretty funky track on its own, I get a feeling that something weird this way comes. It manifests in the The End is Here, a downbeat that sounds more like some sort of mix between electro pop and a boy band. This might not be a bad thing but it’s placed badly and should come last. Afterwards you are returned to the land of 80’s EBM in the song Minute Man only to be soothed to the veritable EBM ballad The Queen of Flowers. The order of the tracks could have been arranged better in my humble opinion, gather up all the slower and more tranquil songs and keep the heavier tracks together for a continuing journey through the lands of BAK XIII. However this is such a small hassle that it shouldn’t be considered a bad thing. Overall it’s a good album so I recommend it if you’re into more downbeat EBM/Pop/Rock hybrids. One of their previous albums is free to download at their homepage so check it out.
