My name's Paul, and I like rock music. Check out the "all about me" section for more info.
My name's Paul, and I like rock music. Check out the "all about me" section for more info.
Member since:20.12.2000
Reviews:45
Members who trust:8
OK this is it. After a little break, I’m returning to Ciao with a couple of Rammstein reviews. Who? You may ask, well allow me to enlighten those of you who require it.
Rammstein are an East-German Sextet who specialise in pounding out Heavy Industrial Rock with German lyrics. As I mentioned in an earlier review, their decision to sing in their native tongue actually does them a service. Rather than listening to a ham-fisted translation of ideas, we get them in their purest, unadulterated form. The power of the music, and the obvious power of singer Till Lindemann convey all the emotion and power of the lyrics for those of us with less than perfect German.
Rammstein were first thrust into mainstream rock consciousness after two songs from their first album ” Herzeleid” were included in the David Lynch movie “Lost Highway”. Shortly after that, they issued their
second album “Senschunt”. A spot on the 1998 “Family Values” tour with Korn and Limp Bizkit cemented their move to international Rock’s major leagues.
That brings us more or less to date, “Mutter” is their third album
Opening Salvo “Mien Herz Brennt” (“My Heart Burns”) sets the pace for much of the album. Low, guttural verses leading into a massive chorus. In particular, the vaguely eastern keyboard flourishes in the chorus, fighting with the vocals for space make this stand out.
The sound of marching backs up the mammoth guitars of “Links 2, 3, 4” (“Left 2, 3, 4”). This song packs a strong dynamic punch, knowing when to hold back, and when to go for the throat.
Track three is called “Sonne” (“Sun”), and was the subject of an earlier review by yours truly. I won’t go into too much detail here, but it’s easily the best song on the album, the soaring chorus backed up with a choral sample. Sublime, almost plaintive, it almost brings a lump to me throat, a tear to my eye.
Moving swiftly on, we come to “Ich Will” (“I Want”). By this point, we start to get into a bit of a pattern. It has the same guttural vocals, stop-start dynamics, and powerful chorus as a lot of the other songs. It’s good, but a bit samey, and doesn’t display the same brilliance as “Sonne” showed them capable of.
Things pick up a coupe of tracks on, with the epic “Mutter” (“Mother”). Another powerful, emotive song, almost rivalling “Sonne” with it’s chorus. After that, we get “Speiluhr” (“Music Box”), yet another grandiose song. It has to be stated that, at their best, Rammstein can pack a song full of epic emotion and fit it into less than five minutes, no mean feat.
From there we get “Zwitter” (“Hermaphrodite”), another great electro-rock song, even if you get the feeling that an English translation of the lyrics would be banned from the radio. And the less said about the imagined content of the following track “Rein Raus” (“In Out”) the better!
“Adios” (title not in German this time, but the song still is) follows. A relatively driving track compared to the more mid-paced material on offer, it still maintains a strong vocal hook and strong Metallica-style riffing. The final track “Nebel” (“Mist”), is a slow-building epic, the perfect end to a great CD.
So there we have it, the missing link between “Black Album”-era Metallica and Kraftwerk, great songs, strong arrangements and riffs to die for. Whilst it does get slightly same-y with a couple of weak tracks half-way through, the there are still at least eight of these eleven tracks which I would describe as strong.
Also, If the language barriers too great, and you desperately need to find out what they’re singing about, then I’ve found a site which displays the lyrics for this, and other albums by them:
Formed in Germany in 1994, this industrial rock six-piece gained notoriety when they were ... more
found to be fave raves of the Columbine High School killers. Mutter is the studio follow-up to 1998s platinum-selling Sehnsucht, and a very menacing beast it is t...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Formed in Germany in 1994, this industrial rock six-piece gained notoriety when they were ... more
found to be fave raves of the Columbine High School killers.Mutteris the studio follow-up to 1998s platinum-sellingSehnsucht, and a very menacing beast it is too....
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
May 3rd, 2001
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