Named after the scurrilously titled 1969 debut album by kraut-prog pioneers, Amon Düül II, Phallus Dei are actually a German industrial trio who achieved prominence in the 1990s – and this 25th anniversary release sees them very purposefully revisiting that territory as though the intervening quarter century were a mere inconvenience: cavernous roars and tectonic drones are punctuated by the crash of scrap metal; billowing, formless clouds of electric buzz give birth to slow, menacing chugs, which gradually evolve into glacial, heavy riffage from what sounds like a conventional rock trio of guitar, bass and drums (the trio's instrumentation is not specified anywhere on the CD cover). It's all pretty predictable and uninspiring – all of which makes cellist Jacqueline Hamelink and Teutonic tenor titan Peter Brötzmann's guest turns on ‘Starman’ all the more arresting: ‘Hamelink’ sets up a mechanistically cycling minimalist churn, out of which Brötzmann bursts with a sweet and heavy altissimo wail, both raw and lyrical, which reveals his abiding love for clarinettist Sidney Bechet. It's a powerful moment – but not enough to rescue this date from the doldrums.