Amboss ('anvil' in German) is the first track from Ash Ra Tempel's self-titled debut album. It is an instrumental of Grimm fairy tale darkness.
It begins quietly, hesitantly, like Little Red Riding Hood peering out her front door to see if the coast is clear for her to begin a walk through the Black Forest to Grandma's house. She takes a few steps and begins her journey. The cymbals stir a gentle breeze among the tree branches. The path is dark and winding, and she keeps her eyes straight ahead as other eyes follow her. She pulls her hood and cloak tightly around her and grips her basket as she advances. She hears the voices of various small animals scurrying about, little twigs snapping here and there.
At 3:15 the drums move in like thunder rumbling in the distance. The wind picks up and branches creak and crackle. Red Riding Hood hurries along, hoping to make it to Grandma's before a storm hits, or something worse.
She pauses to catch her breath at 4:14. Then Klaus Schulze speeds up his drumming and a sawing electronic sound appears. The Big Bad Wolf, who had picked up her trail earlier, catches up to her at 5:00, all slobbery and hungry. Red is surprisingly not disturbed by his appearance. She tells him she's on her way to Grandma's, which causes the wolf to pause and ponder this. Instead of devouring her goodies and her then and there, the wolf advises Red to go pick some flowers to take with her and leaves her be.
The wolf, of course, has come up with a sinister plan. He will get to Grandma's first, eat Grandma, assume her identity, and wait for Red to get there. He lets out a series of triumphant howls at 6:00, and zooms off down the path to grandma's house.
At 10:12, the wolf can see the house - there it is! only a few hundred yards away! He reaches the front door at 11:00 and pauses to catch his breath. He enters the house and immediately swallows Grandma.
At 12:00, Red Riding Hood enters Grandma's house, sees 'her' in bed, and the famous dialogue begins...the whole 'what big eyes and nose and ears and teeth you have, Grandma. What sort of bizarre illness are you suffering from?' The wolf says, 'thanks a lot dear, this is how I always look...how else can I see, hear, and..EAT you!?' At 12:55, he devours her and the contents in the basket. Then at 13:10 he lays down to nap, snoring heavily.
Fortunately, around 13:30, a woodcutter passes by and hears the snores of a ferocious animal inside grandma's house. He throws open the door, startling the wolf, who growls and snarls. The woodcutter will have none of this. He grabs the wolf by the throat and chops his head off, spewing blood everywhere. At 14:15 he pulls Grandma and Red out of the wolf's innards and revives them with hot tea and sauerkraut. Grandma feels way better and at 15:08 she grabs the woodcutter's axe and starts chopping the wolf into bits. At 15:35 the woodcutter says, 'You go, Grandma! Let him have it!' Little Red stands there, in awe of Grandma's strength and vengeance.
At 17:13, the three settle down and begin to clean things up. Grandma is going to prepare a nice dinner for Red and the woodcutter. For the final scene, at 18:30, the woodcutter gathers up the dead wolf carcass and all its bones and wraps it in all in a big sheet. At 19:30 he opens the door and tosses the waste outside, then goes back inside, closing the door behind him.
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