Kreisky – Farewell Immortality

What a contrast: While the penultimate Kreisky album, "Blitz" (2018), pushed the traditionally gritty band sound further towards pop, and the last one, the almost optimistic coming-of-age record "Atlantis" (2021), celebrated youth and naivety with its brightly colored cover, the band now offers us a decidedly dark collection of songs with "Adieu Unsterblichkeit." From the pre-released "Was ist das für eine Welt" from the eponymous TV crime series (in which the band also appeared) to the cannibal torch song "Fressen" and the bike path road movie "Die Pedale," which ends in two minutes of monolithic force, these songs depict moments of bitter realization, dark secrets, epiphanies of evil, and tipping points into darkness. "Adieu Unsterblichkeit" is a journey into the heart of darkness and, if you will, cathartic music for these troubled times.

Once again, it is impressive how Kreisky combines sharpened art-rock, existential fervor, and verbal toxicity in such an overwhelming way that it replaces the Sunday mass for the secular music lover. A novelty on "Adieu Unsterblichkeit" is how quickly and emphatically the band can change gears. The title track, oscillating between nostalgia and self-pity, juxtaposes warped pop abstraction with ruthless ecstasy, "Geh mir aus der Sonne" shifts from math rock to flowery sixties wallpaper and back again, and "Was ist das für eine Welt" changes gears multiple times over its eight krautrock-inspired minutes.

The Kreisky mass is celebrated in a classic rock lineup: drums (loud: Klaus Mitter), bass (also loud: Helmuth Brossmann), guitar (very loud: Martin Max Offenhuber), vocals (not quiet at all: Franz Adrian Wenzl). And this – even after twenty years of band history – with all the necessary and appropriate ruckus. Kreisky 2025 is a unique and irreplaceable band at the peak of their art.