Issue #58-J: Ohgr – Welt

Released:  March 20th, 2001

Recorded:  1995, 1999

Genre:  Industrial Rock, Electro-Industrial

Record Label:  Spitfire

Duration:  44:03

Producers:  Mark Walk, Nivek Ogre

Personnel

Track Listing

Singles

Why Welt is One of My Favorites

And here we are, at the end of my “almost” 1990s sub-series, though Welt’s origins do lie squarely within the 90s, and it’s entirely likely that much of this material was actually recorded back in the 90s.  This entire project started off as a collaboration between Skinny Puppy’s Nivek Ogre and Mark Walk, and Ministry’s Al Jourgensen; the project itself was called W.E.L.T. (Jourgensen even has a tattoo of “W.E.L.T.” in support of the venture).  The extent of Jourgensen’s involvement isn’t completely known, though an unreleased yet leaked track known as “Noreen” has surfaced and has been confirmed as containing contributions from the Ministry frontman.  He would later use the backing music as part of the song “The Fall” on Ministry’s 1996 album Filth Pig.  This goes to show how far back the music of W.E.L.T. stretches.  The material remained unreleased due to legal issues with the record company (American Records, which many saw as a low point in the career of Skinny Puppy), though by 2000 Ogre and Walk were able to re-obtain the master recordings.

Ogre and Walk then decided to create music under the name “Ohgr” (or “ohGr”), and since W.E.L.T. had been trademarked by this time, they released some of the old material as an album, retitled Welt.  Had everything gone as planned, it’s possible that this music would’ve been released back in 1995 or 1996.  What sets Ohgr apart from Skinny Puppy and other traditional industrial is its commercial appeal.  The music is still loud, noisy, sometimes harsh, and decidedly electronic, but it’s also catchy as hell.

Ogre has never been able to sing, which is probably way even the best Skinny Puppy songs have failed to make much of an impact on the mainstream and why early Skinny Puppy records have been oft likened to “gothic rap.”  This actually isn’t far from describing the vocals on Welt.  They’re heavily processed and given a very choppy, rhythmic sound that could be viewed within the stylistic boundaries of rap.

Even the underlying beats contain a modicum of hip-hop influence (“Devil” being the most overt), though with all the layers of synth riding atop, it may not be immediately obvious.  A wonderful array of sounds is present here, with all sorts of screeches, scratches, buzzes, beeps, and more that they don’t even have words for.  Welt is organized chaos at its peak.  A lot happens, the music shifts from one sound to another in a heartbeat and back, and a barrage of complex drum programming launches a continuous assault.  It’s messy and frenetic, yet there’s a method to this madness that makes it extremely listenable.

“Kettle” is one of my favorites with its loud buzzing that eventually settles into scratchy, rhythmic guitar blasts.  “Lusid” is a fine example of Ogre’s choppy and distorted vocals.  Fast and rhythmic enough to almost be “rap,” it crescendos into noisy but catchy chorus.  “Pore” is pure sonic madness from top to bottom: it’s loud, it’s soft, it’s gentle it’s rough.  Most notable are Ogre’s seemingly nonsensical lyrics delivered at a blazing speed (machine-assisted no doubt) that sound as much like a robot as I could ever imagine.

Other songs take on slightly more familiar tunes rendered unfamiliar by the heavy synthetic overtones.  Songs like “Earthworm,” “Solow,” and “Water” could probably be Top 40 hits if the instrumentation was rearranged.  But like I said, the bizarre sounds are such a huge part of what makes Welt interesting and engaging, and I really don’t have the language to describe one shrill sound from another.

I think what also makes Welt a standout record is its use of synth for several different elements.  It can be used as regular accompaniment, backgrounds texture, percussion, rhythm, lead, and counterpoint.  Sometimes a few different sounds will serve the same purpose within a single synth.  It is filled with novel uses of noise, and it’s not subtle either.  Most of it is front and center 100% of the time, drawing the listener’s attention to each and every blip, bloop, beep, and buzz.  At the heart of it all are relatively conventional chord progressions and verse-chorus song structure, which gives Welt its surprising accessibility.  I’ve always thought that sure, it can’t be that hard to make crazy sounding music that’s difficult to listen to, but the trick is somehow applying all technical wizardry to a format that the average listener can relate to, and that’s exactly what Ogre and Walk have fashioned here.

Welt is such a difficult body of music to describe both accurately and completely.  It brings the electro-industrial sound to the table in a whole new way and a way that almost anyone can listen to.  Few records are able to sound so accessible and so sonically diverse at the same time.  Overall, it’s just a fun record to listen to.  It isn’t particularly dark or challenging, but it’s still unique.  Personally, I see this as one of the best ever applications of electronic music, and I only wish Ohgr’s future material had managed to continue advancing this highly accessible angle of industrial music.

Written by The Cubist

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I collect as much video gaming paraphernalia as I can get my hands on, especially when it comes to hardware. With over 40 systems including oldies like the ColecoVision and Intellivision, obscurities like the CD-i and 3DO, and the latest and greatest including the Wii U, PS4, Xbox One, 3DS, and PS Vita, I get easily overwhelmed. Most of the time you can find me firmly nestled sometime between 1985 and 1995 when it comes to my games of choice, but I’m also having a great time seeing what the 8th generation has to offer.

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