What a weird mix (sound wise this is really thin sounding without much bottom end) for the opening track to a record because I really was hoping to be immediately crushed by Geisha's Die Verbrechen der Liebe, and instead, "Prelude to Amber Pays the Rent" is a bit of thin riffage being pushed through a thick haze of white noise, which leaves my head feeling heavy for all the wrong reasons. As the track progresses, I do like the spacier moments quite a bit.
As Die Verbechen der Liebe continues, two developments occur: one, listeners may indeed gain a liking for the production and two, (speaking from experience) enjoy the calmer and spacey aspects that Geisha compose as opposed to the more frantic and manic style, which the band also utilize. "Sportfister" contains some intriguing sounds that mix with the more frantic side of Geisha, which gives the listener a bit more to listen to and draw them in to the song. "Theme from Diana" is another story altogether with its half hour duration, voice samples, and generally easy build; this song allows Geisha the time to do some cool sounding movements and creation of atmosphere building tension and creating a mood the whole way.
Geisha does display a full spectrum of influences that prevent them from being pigeon holed into some silly genre. Yes, some aspects of their compositions are better than others, but there are a bunch of moments (not including the lengthy "Theme from Diana"), which I genuinely enjoy. "Theme from Diana" though is definitely the homerun for me as the group seems to be at the top of their game with this track. Repeat listens to the piece reveal more nuances than the last time, which jacks the replay value up quite a bit (given a listeners attention span of course).
The next Geisha record will be an interesting foray to see if the band decides on a direction or maintains their schizophrenic personality. Until then though, Die Verbrechen der Liebe provides quite the morsel in which to sink one's teeth. The album is not for the faint of heart, but those with some aural stamina may find Geisha very worthwhile with this record.
