German Prog Rockers RPWL Announce New Album “Crime Scene”, Share First Single/Video ‘Victim of Desire’

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When RPWL takes on a motif for an album, it can usually be assumed that this eclectic quartet will dive deep, very deep, into the chosen spectrum and illuminate it from all possible perspectives. With past albums having tackled themes of philosophy or outer space, see 2019’s “Tales From Outer Space”, the art rock formation deals with prominent cases from criminal history on their new album “Crime Scene”.

On the new long player “Crime Scene” this Bavarian prog rock institution directs its attention to the morbid, the perverse, the evil in good, and the abysses of the human behavior spectrum in all its unpredictable diversity, which sometimes comes across as bizarrely disturbing and conclusive, if one tries to fathom it.

The first single, “Victim Of Desire” featuring a cinematic video, is about a serial killer , who kills women due to suffering inflicted on him in the past. Check out the video below and pre-order “Crime Scene” HERE.

Where does love end, where does mania begin? Can a line be drawn between pathological delusion and criminal meticulousness?

Dark subjects such as Karl Denke, that cannibal from Münsterberg, or, Carl Tanzler, the hopelessly loving radiologist from Florida, appear in “Crime Scene”. It would be beyond the scope of this text to go very far into the crazy life stories of these two people alone. However, should one think that this is all too far out, then two counter-arguments immediately take hold: first, RPWL have never been known to set limits, at least none that set themselves, and second, these cases really happened.

Cases that stretch the concept of criminality as much as RPWL have stretched the concept of rock band, since their debut “God Has Failed” (2000). They have done this since the band’s founding in Freising in 1997, so while the concept may not be a surprise, the album itself has surprises at every turn. “Crime Scene”, the 19th release of this internationally successful band is an intensive journey through the band’s vita, as well as their own record collections.

RPWL, consisting of: Kalle Wallner/guitar, Yogi Lang/vocals, keys, Marc Turiaux/drums & Markus Grützner/bass, brings us six densely atmospheric tracks where morbidly dark themes counter with old school fuzz.

The almost 13-minute “King of the World”, with its growling big muff and flat vibes, and the off beat, “Life Beyond Control”, both surely belong in the heaviest parts of the RPWL discography. “Live in a Cage” brings to the fore meticulous sound design, while the eloquent guitar work that Kalle Wagner shows on his recently released (and highly praised) solo album, weaves throughout the ‘Crime Scene’.

In addition to complex musical stories, the band’s social commentary rides high throughout. Yogi Lang comments from an artistic perspective that he has always been fascinated by social and personal shadow sides: “(Consider) Band-aid on gunshot wound as a principle. The delusion of normalized violence wafts in so many households beneath the supposed harmony many believe. How does it feel to have no concept of freedom at all, but the fear of leaving bourgeois security is greater? In the lockdown year 2020 alone, the (German) police recorded over 119,000 cases of intimate partner violence, 139 of which were fatal, directed in over 80% of cases against the female part in the relationship.”

Evil forms a core theme on “Crime Scene”, and Kalle Wallner asks the Faustian Gretchen Question of how to deal with evil itself: “Who makes us who we are? Is it a question of genetics or is it social circumstances, our childhood, strokes of fate, pressure or offenses?”

“Crime Scene” Album Artwork

“Crime Scene”, shall be released March 17th via the band’s own label Gentle Art of Music, distributed by Soulfood.

“Crime Scene” Track List:

1.Victim Of Desire (8:16)
2.Red Rose (5:35)
3.A Cold Spring Day In ’22 (4:21)
4.Life In A Cage (6:11)
5.King Of The World (12:51)
6.Another Life Beyond Control (7:51)

“Crime Scene” will be available in the following formats:

  • Vinyl: black/red/blue, 180g, download-codes, catalog-No. GAOM 073 LP
  • CD: Digipak, catalog-No. GAOM 073 CD
  • Streaming/digital: worldwide on any platforms
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