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Rammstein: Liebe ist für alle da
26/03/10 || Altmer
Rammstein is a band you either like or you don’t. I have yet to see people on the fence about this band, and for good reason. Their live show is completely over-the-top (seen “Völkerball”?). There is always something going on with their lyrics, because they absolutely love to pun, particularly in German. They have a pronounced like for singing about sex, as exemplified by the bunch of dildos that came with the last album, as well as the video for “Pussy”, that video being essentially porn. They absolutely love controversy and got jailed for squirting dildos and sodomy in the United States. This means, that we at GD should love these motherfuckers right?
I don’t think that is the case for some people around here, but it is for me. I like Rammstein, and as I was exposed to them when I was only twelve years old, I’ve been listening to them for longer than I care to remember. In fact, I still bust out “Mutter” frequently. Fuck you guys, I love me some “Links 2 3 4”. It’s fantastic shit. It’s got a good catchy chorus, some brilliant simple yet heavy riffing, fantastic vocals from Mr Lindemann and a rhythm section the size of Jupiter. It’s big, planetary big, and their production is grand enough to suit it.
And they have a new album out, but unfortunately, this stuff doesn’t top Mutter. It ain’t bad by any means, but it doesn’t beat anything since “Sehnsucht”. Only the debut, “Herzeleid”, is worse. Oh help, you might think. Did Rammstein become a pop band? Did they suddenly go all techno on our asses? What the fuck happened here? In fact, not that much really happened. The band sounds like they always do, except they now have some more poppy material floating around. Most of that pop-experimentation sucks but since they have a grand talent for catchy choruses and awesome keyboard lines it turns out all fine in the end. They have a big production too, and everything sounds clear and most of all big, which is exactly like they wanted it to, I guess.
Just to name some examples: “Rammlied”, the opener, is vintage Rammstein. You could make a playlist of all their albums and put it next to “Mein herz brennt” or anything like that. Fucken fantastic, and the RAMM! STEIN! chorus is larger than life. “Haifisch” is an example of where they experiment, and half sound like Tiamat, but they do it right with a brilliant chorus and references to the Threepenny opera. Amazing. And then there is some absolute shit floating around, like “Roter sand”, with whistling that makes me want to kill red pandas and cringeworthy lyrics to boot. I mean, it’s a Rammstein album, there always has to be one of those songs you don’t like (well there wasn’t on Mutter). Lead single “Pussy” is hit and miss, with amazing keyboards, but some fucking shitty English lyrics, an absolutely hilarious chorus line (dick-ah!), and not much else going for it. Elsewhere we have more shitty ballads (“Fruhling in Paris” sounds like a Coldplay song), and more inspired rocking tunes like “Buckstabu” and “Mehr”. But it’s just not as good as they used to be. It’s an excuse for them to tour though, and they are always better live, so it’s all good.
Rammstein won’t do the trick for you if you long for brutality, earth-scorching speeds, or satanism. But if you like sex-inspired lyrics, morbid humor, and especially if the lyrics aren’t lost on you (understanding German adds a huge, huge amount of background to their songs) they are pretty worthwhile to listen to. I enjoy this album, not as much as their other shit, but it’s still pretty good. If you’re a fan you can pick it up without qualms and if you’re not, get “Mutter” instead.
Just a little bit, just my little bitch…
- Information
- Released: 2009
- Label: Universal Records
- Website: www.rammstein.de
- Band
- Till Lindemann: vocals
- Richard Z. Kruspe: guitars
- Paul Landers: guitars
- Oliver Riedel: bass
- Christian “Flake” Lorenz: keyboards
- Christoph “Doom” Schneider: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Rammlied
- 02. Ich tu dir weh
- 03. Waidmanns Heil
- 04. Haifisch
- 05. Buckstabü
- 06. Frühling in Paris
- 07. Wiener Blut
- 08. Pussy
- 09. Liebe ist für alle da
- 10. Mehr
- 11. Roter Sand
