eing Neubauten’s most accessible and commercial sounding album, Tabula Rasa has long sat in the awkward position where an angry young band had matured into the mental state where mind conquers muscle. For all their early barrier-trouncing industrial vigour, this considered collection (now expanded with tracks from the similarly styled Interim EP) is clever, emotive and incredibly well produced, sounding just as new as it did eleven years ago.

The spirit of experimentation from their birth lives on. But this time it’s in the styles that they touch upon, preventing the unlikely alternate future where Neubauten lapse into formulaic MOR (e.g. The Bad Seeds). Considering their past, this is an extraordinarily welcoming and easily appreciated album, the (gasp!) near-conventional arrangements and sharp sound making it sound like the work of a great musical collective at work as opposed to the sound of intellectual deconstruction. The sheer range of percussion sounds alone deserves examination: ranging from deep dull thuds to sonorous metal patter.

But it’s Blixa’s vocals, along with the rest of the band’s backing vocals, which are the major transformation. Here, they’re less like tools and aural weapons than ever before. On tracks like “Zebulon” and “Salamandrina” we can hear it easily: establishing a human presence that was rarely present on previous records. It sees the group returning to the most primal of instruments and using it for emotion, rather than dispassion.

At opposite ends of the album’s range lie the old school break-stuff-smash-the-state-noise of “Headcleaner” and the tenuous Evol melodies of “Blume (French version)”. But, in between, the group mines myriad different styles and sounds to great effect. There is a diversity unknown to the group, while maintaining the unique Neubaten feel throughout.

The reissue contains an extensive translation of the liner notes (along with shots of their instruments: rocks, hammers, sheet metal, etc.), allowing the unilingual amongst us can get even more from the songs. And while it may appear unnecessary to fill four of the seven bonus track slots with translated versions (an English version of “Die Interimsliebenden” and English, Japanese and French versions of “Blume”), each have their own magic as the pronunciation, stresses and lyrical quirks bring something new to each version.

For once, a revelatory reissue.