Concurrently released along with the opening of a retrospective exhibition of
Wolfgang Voigt's art titled Werkschau, the seventh
Gas album also serves as a sort of highlights reel of the Kompakt co-founder's most celebrated musical project.
Der Lange Marsch, like every other
Gas full-length, consists of untitled tracks which set atmospheric layers of heavily treated samples to thumping 4/4 kick drums. Presented as a continuous hour-long mix, the album builds anticipation by starting out with a thick layer of vinyl crackle and slowly fading in the steadily paced beat, which barely changes throughout the entire course of the album. The individual tracks feature different arrangements, from rich orchestral swells to slower, more solemn strings, and a few moments that burst with emotion. Longtime
Gas fans will notice several familiar tones and elements appearing throughout, such as the dramatic horns from
Königsforst or the gossamer sheen from
Pop, all serving as overt reminders of the places the project has visited over the decades. Curiously, one of these elements initially made
Der Lange Marsch the most divisive
Gas release when it was first released. A sharp, high-frequency beep, perhaps intended as a reference to
Voigt's tinnitus, appeared on every other beat during certain tracks on 2018's Rausch, and it ran throughout the entirety of
Der Lange Marsch as it hit streaming services in early December of 2021. Additionally, the tracks all ended in abrupt pauses, which made for an extremely jarring listen. Following complaints from fans who felt that the frequency ruined the listening experience, the beep was removed, or at least mixed differently so that it didn't seem so intrusive, and the album appeared as a continuous flow. All of this raises questions of what
Voigt actually intended the album to sound like, and if the original version was the result of a faulty master. Regardless, the clearer, uninterrupted version of the album sounds absolutely gorgeous, and actually gets better as it progresses, as
Voigt saves some of the most recognizable elements for the second half, while also adding new details such as the eerie choir which appears during the tenth track. ~ Paul Simpson