I’m betting not many people on Sputnik know who The Murder of Rosa Luxemburg is. One they are foreign, two they are a post-hardcore outfit, and three they’ve already broken up. While this will probably affect the popularity of this review, I still hope I can at least sway some people to at least give this album a try because it’s a great experiment in post-hardcore. After this release by the band they released another EP which was basically a complete rehash of their sound into Don Cab. type post-rock. I think that in turn shows what kind of band The Murder of Rosa Luxemburg was. They were a band that could be pigeon holed into a specific style, but they were certainly one of the more eclectic groups in their scene. This album is a concept album, because that’s cool right now.
So what makes The Murder of Rosa Luxemburg, different from your average post-hardcore band? Well, let’s see first off there are the numerous experimentations with electronica, seen in the tracks Jack and Oscar Have A Fight and Ex Post Facto. These electronic tracks are very similar to the interludes found on Minus the Bear’s first LP Highly Refined Pirates. Another aspect that The Murder of Rosa Luxemburg’s music has is the sense of humor and spazziness found in a group like The Blood Brothers. The thing that makes The Murder of Rosa Luxemburg’s music more interesting then The Blood Brothers is that instead of concentrating on having ridiculous vulgar lyrics screamed by two crazy singers with very simple music backing it, the actual music seems to be the center point of The Murder of Rosa Luxemburg experience, and what wonderful music it is. The group’s main tools of destruction are the fantastic bass and guitar interplay. The bass lines on this album are one of the key reasons I love it, they are so jumpy and random very similar to the bass lines of another favorite band of mine, Off Minor. The guitars have that jazzy hardcore sound that The Plot to Blow up the Eiffel Tower has, for those that have heard them. The drumming is simple yet suits most of the songs and the lead singer’s scream/talk is nasally but not to the extent where it is bothersome. The lyrics aren’t anything special just nonsense that is trying to tell a crazy ass story about a man and the fight inside his conscious which is represented by a cat and a dog. All of the songs that are not electronic experiments are constantly progressing into new parts which really keep this album from getting old. While most of the songs are heavy, the band is able to jump between various styles of heavy music whether it is straight up hardcore, grind, and even some alternative rock type stuff. I guess the best comparison for the band would be if Minus the Bear decided to rip off the Blood Brothers. The best track on the album is probably the closer
While this album is a very original and interesting record, it does get a tad bit repetitive. It’s hard to tell the differences between most of the songs and while this isn’t a huge problem, it does lessen the amount I listen to it. Another problem is the versatility of the lead singer’s voice, some back up vocals or actual singing might have made this a little bit more interesting and certainly a lot more my style. Some people may be turned off by the production, but I like my hardcore raw and lively which is what this sounds like. While I’m probably leaving out a few flaws, I think most of the album is pretty solid.
The Murder of Rosa Luxemburg was a short experiment in tampering with the idea of a post-hardcore band. I think most hardcore fans would really enjoy this album if they gave it a chance and some fans of other genres might find some redeeming qualities in it. While it’s a solid record its length and repetitiveness are kind of wearing and that is what keeps it from achieving a perfect score. “Everyone’s In Love and Flowers Pick Themselves” is one of those solid albums that are neither great nor bad; it’s just kind of a good listen on any occasion. It’s catchy, technical and inventive so if you’re into music that reflects any of those ideas, download this album and enjoy something that may have been so much more if time hadn’t cut short such a great band.
