Biography
Gomorrha surfaced in the early 1970s as a little-known hard rock ensemble tied to the Krautrock movement and based in Germany’s Rhineland, where recognition stayed minimal even on home soil throughout their brief existence. Their catalog later turned into prized collector items, and the group’s name surfaced on the Nurse With Wound roster of formative influences.
Songwriting first took shape in the late 1960s between drummer Helmut Pohl and Eberhard Krietsch, who covered both organ and bass. The lineup solidified in early 1969 once guitarists Ad Ochel and Ali Claudi came aboard, and the quartet captured its initial album toward the end of that year with Connie Plank, still early in his own path as engineer and producer. Cornet issued the self-titled set in 1970, an ill-received blend of Beatle-esque pop and German beat material that the musicians promptly rejected.
They reentered the studio with Plank the next year to revisit the same songs, now sung in English and steered toward a more progressive approach after Peter Otten joined as lead vocalist. Issued in 1971 as Trauma, the album improved on its predecessor yet stayed largely conventional, aside from the thirteen-minute title track that pointed toward later ambitions.
Mike Eulner arrived as full-time bassist near the close of 1971, freeing Eberhard from alternating between organ and bass. Brain Records soon offered the band complete artistic control for its third release, I Turned To See Whose Voice It Was, which was tracked in four days during early 1972 once more under Conny Plank. Released later that year, the record expanded Trauma’s strongest qualities into bolder creative territory and stands as Gomorrha’s defining statement alongside one of the era’s notable Krautrock achievements.
The group persisted only through one more year before dissolving, its members unwilling to embrace the instability of a musical career and instead returning to ordinary employment, with none of them reentering music afterward.
Songwriting first took shape in the late 1960s between drummer Helmut Pohl and Eberhard Krietsch, who covered both organ and bass. The lineup solidified in early 1969 once guitarists Ad Ochel and Ali Claudi came aboard, and the quartet captured its initial album toward the end of that year with Connie Plank, still early in his own path as engineer and producer. Cornet issued the self-titled set in 1970, an ill-received blend of Beatle-esque pop and German beat material that the musicians promptly rejected.
They reentered the studio with Plank the next year to revisit the same songs, now sung in English and steered toward a more progressive approach after Peter Otten joined as lead vocalist. Issued in 1971 as Trauma, the album improved on its predecessor yet stayed largely conventional, aside from the thirteen-minute title track that pointed toward later ambitions.
Mike Eulner arrived as full-time bassist near the close of 1971, freeing Eberhard from alternating between organ and bass. Brain Records soon offered the band complete artistic control for its third release, I Turned To See Whose Voice It Was, which was tracked in four days during early 1972 once more under Conny Plank. Released later that year, the record expanded Trauma’s strongest qualities into bolder creative territory and stands as Gomorrha’s defining statement alongside one of the era’s notable Krautrock achievements.
The group persisted only through one more year before dissolving, its members unwilling to embrace the instability of a musical career and instead returning to ordinary employment, with none of them reentering music afterward.
Albums
