In Extremo - Bruchstücke (2013) - Hit and miss collection for die-hard fans - 52% (03/10/14)

“Bruchstücke – Zehn Raritäten aus der In Extremo-Privatsammlung“ is a short compilation issued with the German Metal Hammer magazine in support of the "Kunstraub“ record and includes ten rare or unreleased tracks. While this collector’s item is a nice addition to fan collections, it’s really not an essential release and includes more or less only average tracks.

The song opens with a rare cover song by the band. It’s not really original to cover Metallica these days but the song the band chose is rather interesting as it is the often overlooked single only release “I Disappear”. This tune is definitely not among Metallica’s strongest but In Extremo’s take on it is better than the original. The raw throat singing, the simple but enchanting harp sounds and the powerful use of pipes add a fresh touch to a bad average song and transform it in a good average track. Metallica fans should give this original cover a try.

A few songs on the release are alternative versions or remixes of famous In Extremo songs. I must admit that I like the originals much better. The Latin vocals in the alternative version of the German “Zigeunerskat” sound out of tone and don’t seem to fit with the music at all for example. 

The release also includes a few demo and live in the studio recordings. The demo tracks sometimes sound quite different from the final results. The most striking differences exist between the original sound and text of “Viva la Vida” and its final version. Sadly, the band only included snippets of this track and I’m asking myself why they didn’t put the whole original demo on this album. It’s the only incomplete track consisting of excerpts on this release. Otherwise, it’s interesting to realize how the song ideas of a band can evolve but other than that, the demo versions on here are rather forgettable. The live in studio records sound also less impressive and straight than regular live songs and have a really bad sound quality.

Finally, we also get two new songs on this album. That’s at least what the track list seems to tell us but in fact, “Sa Roma” is a slightly different version of the overlooked In Extremo b-side “Wolkenmeer” with a notably different text. As for “Zigeunerskat”, I happen to think that the German vocals suit this track better in terms of rhythm and tone. The other and only really new song is “Uns verbrennt die Nacht” even though it sounds similar to a few other current In Extremo songs. The song starts with a jazzier tone and also includes a charming acoustic guitar and percussion break. The rest is a pretty standard In Extremo track with raw verses and a catchy chorus dominated by low riffs and melancholic yet majestic pipe sounds. It’s not a bad effort but on a regular release, this kind of song would only be a filler.

As you can see, this short release is only interesting for collectors and die-hard fans of the band. If you were able to grab this release for a decent price, you could purchase it but otherwise you shouldn’t look to hard for it and simply focus on the regular releases.