Holy Crap! Here is yet another long-time indusrtrial artist I've never heard of until now- German artist Mona Mur from Berlin, who has been on (an off and on again) the electronic music scene since the early '80s. (Earlier stuff along the synthpop lines, later morphing into EMB and Industrial.) There probably isn't a native German Industrial music enthusiast who hasn't heard of her, with lots of releases since the beginning on various labels and I haven't heard any of them previously, although her voice definitely sounds familiar. Must have been the distribution, or lack of it. She's done several collaborations with En Esch (KMFDM, Pigface, and Slick Idiot) and I've certainly heard of him. I checked out some of Mona's earlier videos and I have to say she is one strange bird. She has the look of a dire Deutsche expressionist diva and it's absolutely fascinating. But all that was then and this is now.

If you're unfamiliar Mona Mur, you should know that she sings in a melodic voice, not in a harsh, electronically treated one so prevalent in today's Industrial music. A positive thing in my opinion (Mona's older material was even more melodic.) There are 10 track in 38 minutes here, which may seem short, but absolutely nothing is wasted. As for the inspiration of this album, Mona says “I came across a story about a small island off the Brazilian shores, where 20,000 snakes’ dwell, deadly poisonous vipers,” she explains about the album’s title, “They sleep nine months, then awake – only when a certain species of birds of passage stop by to breed their children – so, the snakes can eat them and survive. The snakes are everywhere. They’ve killed three lighthouse keepers, so that the lighthouse is abandoned now.”
"Dream Rider" is a great intro into this solid industrial venture with Mona's soaring vocals leading the way backed by all the right instrumental aspects. "Manipulator" is a bit of a slow slog musically, and Mona sounds as if she's conjuring something rather nefarious in the vocal department. "Shades" picks up the pace skipping along merrily in the dark. Next may be the strangest cover of Motorhead's "Ace Of Spades" you've ever heard. I didn't like it at first, but I have to say it grew on me. (That's Gary Schmalzl with a credible metal guitar solo on that track.) The title of "Schieldwall" might make you think of Vikings, but it's really a solid and noisy balls-to-the-wall industrial number.

"Warriors" has a bit of a Native American feel to it. At this point I should mention Mona's main collaborator on this album, Ralf Goldkind, who is responsible for a goodly portion of the sound of this album. Mona describes him as "an eccentric shaman" and "her brother in doom." Goldkind really plumbs the darkness for the sound on this album. "Venus and Mars" is sort of an industrial love song ballad, but Paul McCartney it certainly ain't. "Tiny House" was reminiscent of Laurie Anderson to me where lyrics are more talked than sung, with a short, repetitive guitar/bass loop throughout. The second cover on the album, Townes Van Zandt's "Rake" (with En Esch guesting) is great remake, barely sounding like the original but wonderful in its own right. It all ends with "Your Eyes" which is almost a throwback to Mona's earlier days as a chanteuse (check out her "Illusions" and/or "That Night at the Ritz" video). This album is so well done, it just cannot be overlooked. Not only that, you should seek out ANY release by Mona Mur, if you can find them. Me- Anxiously anticipating the next one.