On this release of early tracks from around Kollaps era Neubauten what's interesting is that it is nowhere near as noisy as Kollaps. Not even close. Granted it's still your standard Neubauten from that era - harsh, abrasive, aggressive and at times creepy. But it's nowhere near brain meltdown as Kollaps.

The tracks however do tend to creep and crawl under your skin. It's almost like you were being locked in a room with while being poisoned with gas that's filling up the room in a cloud. Tracks such as Zuckendes Fleisch ( German for "Twitching Meat") and Bakterien Fuer Eure Seele ( Bacteria For Your Soul ) are prime examples of that. The two last tracks Thirsty Animal and Durstiges Tier should viewed as one of the same since they both mean the same thing. To me it's almost like a soundtrack to a chemical nuclear explosion and the lyrics by Lydia Lunch describe the gruesomeness of the survival of what's left of the inhabitants. I never said it was cheery stuff!

If you are new to Neubauten you would be well off starting with later records. The Strategies compilations are ideal and essential purchases and give you a taste of Neubauten.....leave this one until a little later unless you're a hardened pro at noise records. Then just step inside.....

I discovered this album in an independent record store only three or four days after I first heard Einsturzende Neubauten through Napster. It was the only EN album that they had, so I picked it up pretty quickly.

I was somewhat apprehensive about the first listen, not knowing exactly what to expect. The only EN album I had heard so far was "Ende Neu," which, from most reviews I read, appears to be markedly more mellow than anything else that the band recorded prior. "Kollaps" was generally reported as the noisiest, most unlistenable of their recordings, so when I realized that "Kalte Sterne" predated that CD, I prepared myself for a very trying experience.

In some ways it is very trying. A friend of mine said that he got visions of a Nazi concentration camp in his head from listening to this, that it was the soundtrack to starvation and totalitarian beatings.

I, however, have really learned to appreciate almost every song on here. Some of them have pretty catchy rock beats ("Zuckendes Fleish") while others have more of an industrial techno sound ("Pygmaeen") and some defy classification altogether ("Schwarz," "Durstiges Tier").

Every track is intense. On "13 Loecher (Leben ist illegal)," a power drill is used as an instrument. On "Bakterien fuer eure Seele," probably my favorite track, a pounding drum beat is intermixed with psychotic screaming and the crunchiest, most minimal of guitar attacks, while still remaining mellow and quiet in parts. On "Schwarz," Blixa Bargeld mumbles his way through must of the lyrics (accompanied by a keyboard drone and some random mechanical drums) before letting loose some incredibly disturbing howls. "Durstiges Tier" is beyond my ability to describe. "Aufrecht gehen" has drums that are dizzyingly psychedelic and thick. "Thirsty Animal" may have English lyrics, but its no comfort when they're screamed at you (a watery scream diluted by distortion) by a woman, accompanied by ear-aching drums and a repetitive acoustic guitar riff that seems to parody the conventions of rock music.

In short, I found lots to like on "Kalte Sterne," despite the warning on the back that "the sound-quality varies from track to track." It's much more mellow than I expected; its noisy but the noise is used effectively. The melodies are there if you choose to look for them. And the vocals are some of the most impressive I've ever heard in music.

It's difficult for me to declare the reasons for why I don't care for this album quite as much as I do the rest of their catalogue; I'm not biased around any of EN's releases, I celebrate their whole career, so why this one didn't strike me so profoundly, as I really expected, was a little bothersome. Bothersome, in that I couldn't figure out the reason.

But then! I did, while listening to it, realize why I find this one of their weaker albums: it's too 'earthly'. Take for instance 'Drawings Of Patient OT', an incredibly surreal masterpiece that just takes you elsewhere, later works like 'Perpetuum Mobile' which, through the perfect marriage of organic and inorganic materials EN composes yes another strange, but strangely familiar, atmosphere; you can really feel what EN want you to.

I feel with these pieces, as great as they are, that signature surrealism hasn't yet been constructed. I love many tracks, like the first three tracks, but the ones, more specifically, where they mix audio samples with random bits of pounding on instruments, just doesn't convey the kind of dedication you hear in later works.

Still, it'd be foolish NOT to pick up this cornerstone album, let alone because of a 3 star review's opinion.