Review Summary: The industrial 'pop' songs on the album are convincing with their almost cryptic structures, which emerge during the improvised live mix. A worthy end for a remarkably short-lived band.
The third and last regular album 'Bullfrog' from 1989 marks the peak of
Abortive Gasp. The electro/industrial songs are mature and often recklessly wildly mixed, which, however, succeeded very well for the most part in Hamburg's DESY complex. The album title chosen by Paal as well as the accompanying cover remind in their infantile seeming kind of Monty Python or also Ã*;Grumh..., with which he might have asserted himself against the always more sober style of Luehr.
From the previous album, with 'Psychgod' and 'Media Overload', two songs were recorded again in a new version, because they had indeed proven themselves in the international airplay of the group (Belgium, USA, Australia) in the meantime. The most important 'conventional' Industrial/EBM song was 'Humanity', which is considered by many fans to be the most important of the group - again, not political, but at least somewhat philosophical in its basic attitude. The rest of the industrial 'pop' songs on the album are convincing due to their almost cryptic structures created during improvised live mixing, which at that time could at best only be heard by Mark Stewart. Here especially the dadaistic prosexual 'Blockhead' stands out, but also titles like 'Sororicide', 'Manipulated' and 'No Limits' (obviously prototypical new wave naming) keep up the suspense of the album until the end. As a stylistic peculiarity still 'Cripple Stomp' has to be mentioned, which can be described as a dark-wave/italo-disco symbiont, atmospherically reminiscent of Vangelis' soundtrack for 'Blade Runner'. Where else can you find something like this ?
Paal once again brings vocal excellence on Bullfrog: On 'Humanity' his screams are barely distinguishable from a tortured electric guitar. And also the clandestine guest musician of Abortive Gasp performs little miracles in the use of samples as well as in the dub-mixing together with Luehr. After 'Bullfrog' the band could confidently disband, because a better interplay of the protagonists was actually hardly conceivable and possibly not desirable, if one really did not want to leave the underground / independent area.
