Originally signed to Chris Parry's Fiction Records, the band released Disco Rigido in the late 1980s (distributed in the United States by Atlantic Records), which featured "Welcome To America", "Land of the Free" and "I've Got To Make Sense". Though the album falls solidly into the EBM genre, it contains hints of the experimentation and genre-bending that later recordings would feature (e.g. "Y Tagata en Situ").
A second album, Big Electric Metal Bass Face, built on the foundation laid with Disco Rigido and upped the ante with excursions into funk (listen to "Funkopolis" as well as the live take of "Coming Down"). Contributors to the band at the time included Chris Vrenna and James Woolley, who both served time in Nine Inch Nails during the mid-Nineties.
Marcus and Christie then teamed up with Jane Jensen to form Oxygiene 23, and released an album ("Blue") on Fifth Column Records.
Engine, a 1995 release on WaxTrax!, was a huge jump forward and found critical acclaim for its decimation of genre boundaries. Die Warzau could no longer be simply pigeonholed into the "industrial" category, as their music became more organic, rounder on the edges yet still retaining their trademark knack for insistent rhythm and pure, unrefined electronic noise. "Liberated" and "All Good Girls" became trademark songs for the group. Fellow WaxTrax! act Sister Machine Gun "inherited" an unused song from this period ("Hole In the Ground"), which they included on their Burn album.
Die Warzau as a group then went on hiatus for a number of years, with Marcus and Christie working on other projects--Jim Marcus founded the pure funk group Everplastic while Van Christie worked on Eco-Hed.
By 2005, though, the duo had reconvened and released Convenience (on their Chicago-based Pulseblack Records). A continuation of the path they started on with Engine, songs like "Radiation Babies", "Kleen" and "Linoleum" further blur any genre lines and leave something truly original. More output is expected from the group in 2006, including a collaboration with funk pioneer George Clinton.
Crusaders
Die Warzau Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Anything you say
Bodies revealed
Broken in worship
Children are piled
Higher than the sun
Bend your will to the conversation
You're not the one
On and on and fight
Ordinary people
Just go on and on and fight
Ordinary people
See that promised place
It's all paper
And that liberation purpose
It's vapor, baby
The world's a bigger place
Than you were advised
And most of it is ocean
To wash away the people that you most despise
(Sweet Jesus)
Anything you say
in this song, Crusaders by Die Warzau, seems to be pointing towards the idea of blind or misguided faith and how people tend to get lost in it. The lyrics talk about how bodies are revealed and broken in worship, indicating how blindly following something can lead to destruction. The children are piled higher than the sun, a metaphor for how innocent people are sacrificed in the name of faith. The line "You can't believe anything you say" highlights the irony of how people are so convinced of their beliefs that they fail to realize their own contradictions.
The song goes on to talk about how ordinary people just go on fighting without realizing the cause behind it. The promised place and liberation purpose are all paper and vapor, meaning that they are just empty promises that people blindly blindly follow. The world is much bigger than what we are advised, and most of it is ocean, indicating that people's perspectives are limited, and they don't really understand the world around them.
In conclusion, the song highlights how blind faith can be dangerous and lead to destruction. The lyrics encourage listeners not to blindly follow anything without questioning it and to have an open mind towards the world.
Line by Line Meaning
Anything you say
You cannot believe what anyone says or anything they promise.
Bodies revealed
The true intentions and actions of those in power are exposed and made known.
Broken in worship
The people have been brainwashed and manipulated into blind obedience, causing them to be weakened and powerless.
Children are piled
Higher than the sun
Innocent and helpless children are being sacrificed and exploited to serve the selfish desires of those in power.
Bend your will to the conversation
You're not the one
The people are being bullied and forced into submission to comply with the agenda of those in power, but they are not the ones truly in control.
On and on and fight
Ordinary people
The common people must continue to persist and resist against the corrupt and oppressive system.
Just go on and on and fight
Ordinary people
The ordinary people must not give up and continue fighting against the system, even if it seems impossible.
See that promised place
It's all paper
The utopian society promised by those in power is nothing more than empty words and false promises.
And that liberation purpose
It's vapor, baby
The idea of freedom and liberation that those in power use to manipulate the people is nothing but a fleeting dream, impossible to attain.
The world's a bigger place
Than you were advised
The people have been confined to a limited worldview and kept ignorant to the true extent of the world's problems and injustices.
And most of it is ocean
To wash away the people that you most despise
The majority of the world is vast and indifferent, ready to consume and eliminate those who are seen as undesirable or disposable.
Contributed by Addison H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.