Week of March 1, 1998
Why didn't this group record more than just one album? Their self-titled
album is a heavy progressive masterpiece with excellent,
Hendrix-influenced guitar work and vocals by Frank Diez.
Armaggedon was the start of his long and impressive career. Their
album had six tracks, and two of them were cover versions. Most impressive
was the 10-minute version of Jeff Beck Group's "Rice Pudding".
This track had some of the greatest heavy guitar riffing to appear on a
German
record. Their version of Spooky Tooth's "Better By You, Better
Than Me" was also competent enough. In addition, both Frank Diez and
Manfred Galatik (electric piano, bass and vocals) wrote great songs, as typified
by the tracks "People Talking" and "Open". Michael Nurnberg
(bass, rhythm guitar) and Jurgen Lorenzen (drums) provided a strong backing.
Armaggedon's album has rocketed in price during recent years, due
to the ever increasing interest. However, demand for the group was poor way
back in 1970, and Armaggedon soon broke up. Diez never played material
with a similar energy again, his next step was to join the
'slightly-above-average' jazz-rockers
Emergency. He later played with
Randy Pie, Karthago,
Ihre Kinder and
Atlantis. Luckily the Armaggedon
album was released on CD in 1991 with a sharp and clean digitally remastered
sound (in a limited edition of 1,000 numbered copies).
Album: Armaggedon 1970 Kuckuck 2375 003
Reissue: CD - Ohrwaschl, 1991, Kuckuck 11003-2
Taken from Cosmic Dreams at Play - A guide to German Progressive and Electronic Rock by Dag Erik Asbjørnsen, Borderline Productions, ISBN 1-899855-01-7