From the Vaults: DROWNING ROSES “Ž
Aus Forschung und Technik EP
DROWNING ROSES “Ž— Aus Forschung Und Technik 7″ (self released, 1987)
DROWNING ROSES formed in Minden/Westfalen, Germany, out of the ashes of HUMAN DECAY, PHALLIC SYMBOLS, and NEUROTIC ARSEHOLES, sounding most akin to the last of the three. After releasing a demo they released this great 7″ in 1987. I was initially drawn to this EP because of the NEUROTIC ARSEHOLES relation and the cover’s strange purple/orange color scheme and art that left the sounds to be unpredictable.
The title track, “Aus Forschung und Technik” (“From Research and Technology”) kicks off with four nice open chords and then bursts out with a catchy “snake-charmy” type guitar melody (I’m a sucker for these riffs) and a rapid dual vocal attack, straddling the line between hardcore and classic Deutschpunk. “10 Years” follows a similar blueprint but has even catchier guitar melodies and is sung in English — a song observing the state of punk ten years after its supposed inception. Check the last two lines of each verse for a basic idea:
While many Punks got teenage depressions, failed the connection or followed the fashion…Times have changed but the authority conditions are still the same — still the same!
Side B slows it down with “Kein Thema für Heut,” a moody, epic number that greatly delivers in melodic hooks where it lacks in speed. Some may find the dual guitar melodies too metal, but I don’t think so — just great fucking songwriting with tons of feeling!
DROWNING ROSES also released a split 7″ with NOFX and two LPs, none of which really grabbed me the way this 7″ does. According to their MySpace page they have done random gigs up until 2008, so they may still be getting together from time to time.
