Showtime
	Produced abused by Flood
	Released on February 26, 1990
	no chart information
	Find it at GEMM
M5G 24284 cover

B elief got my interest, Showtime earned my allegiance. This is one of my favorite “industrial” albums, though among industrial acolytes NE must be seen as a Yello Ministry. When it works, Showtime grabs you by the ears and shakes your brain until it hurts: “One Mans Burden,” “Getting Closer,” “Fun To Be Had,” “Lightning Man.” This is where dance and death connect, where nihilism is the status quo and desire the dark currency. Also incorporated in their vision is a pitch black sense of humor that crosses over into cartoonish indulgence sometimes (“One Mans Burden,” “Lightning Man”). Close your eyes, and you’ll think you’re at a rave club in Toonworld. With Showtime, Nitzer Ebb moved to the top of the industrial heap alongside Ministry, Nine Inch Nails and (in the metal camp) White Zombie. These were the Halloween legions, protected under the cloak of an eternal Mischief Night, as nervy as witches and as twitchy as a nerve. On Showtime, Nitzer Ebb emerge as one of the more playful purveyors of techno doom, moving from militant aerobic instructors (Belief) to mad prophets. The choice of sounds is more advanced too, from the strange signal popping of “Fun To Be Had” to the hallucinogenic honking of “One Mans Burden.” A decade onward, it’s still enough to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Nitzer Ebb is preaching pain and disappointment, and listeners are invited to dance to their own destruction. It’s not the religious tract of Belief, but rather a report from the other side. Nitzer Ebb has crossed the fence into the purportedly greener pastures and stepped in the same disturbing dark matter that earned their ire earlier. If now is the season of your discontent, Nitzer Ebb is the itchy wool outfit to suit you.

TRACK LISTING

1. GETTING CLOSER
2. NOBODY KNOWS
3. ONE MANS BURDEN
4. ALL OVER
5. MY HEART
6. LIGHTNING MAN
7. ROPE
8. HOLD ON
9. FUN TO BE HAD
   
   these songs written by v. harris and d. mccarthy

CREDITS

BON HARRIS --
DOUGLAS McCARTHY --
Flood -- engineer, mixing
Paul Kendall -- engineer (7)
Simon of nitzerebbprodukt -- packaging design

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