Oh you pretty German fiends...

While listening to the radios of the enemies (yes, I like last.fm and Pandora), I kept coming across Deine Lakaien on my darkwave radio station. Intrigued, I hunted down a copy of April Skies, their most recent album (remember, I discover material later than most people on this site). My first reaction was "Why don't more people know about this band?" Despite their mostly English lyrics, theatrical vocals, innovative uses of rhythm and dramatic sound, they are primarily known in Europe, especially in Germany, their country of origin. While as with most darkwave albums there are the boring tracks that don't quite make it past atmospheric ("Dialectic" is a good example of that), many of their results are tense and ambient, even occasionally sublime. "Over and Done" is jarring, "Midnight Sun" brings a certain amount of danceable desperation and "Vivre" (one of the few in French and enclosed with this post) is quiet and stunning. So with the pale, vague hope that people will care (and would pay the US $50 import price on the CD), I bring the gospel of Deine Lakaien.