Rammstein – Reise Reise
Universal International, 2004
1. Reise, Reise
2. Mein Teil
3. Dalai Lama
4. Keine Lust
5. Los
6. Amerika
7. Moskau
8. Morgenstern
9. Stein um Stein
10. Ohne dich
11. Amour
Rammstein’s history is most certainly atypical of most non-English-speaking bands. Even Nena, one-hit-wonder pop princess of the 1980s, released an english version of her hit, “99 Luftballoons”. Yet, Rammstein has sustained quite an impressive career in their native Germany as well as across the European continent and abroad into America. Uncompromising and rebelliously East German, they fed from a widespread underground movement of industrial metal and crafted it into a dark, symphonic sound combined with a hard metal crunch.
Gaining notoriety with its last three releases with its rather evil and frightening sound, coupled with stage shows featuring vocalist Till Lindermann on fire and other crazy shenanigans, Rammstein was never particularly family-friendly. Regardless of language barrier, stories would circle as to the translations of their songs. Not that the band needed any urban-legend-type stories about their lyrics, anyway, when they were already truthfully singing about oral sex and other offbeat subjects without raising an eyebrow among the english-speaking market.
The infamy continues with Reise, Reise: no sooner did the band mention a new release when controversy erupted over “Mein Teil,” a lovely song about the true story of a cannibal who joyfully invited someone to be his meal, first roasting up his “tool” (hence the title), and devouring appropriately. Such is par for the course with Rammstein and only fuels the press, consistently keeping them in the eyes and ears of those outside of their native country.
Shock tactics aside, Rammstein has always managed to grow musically in complexity; use of full orchestration and over-the-top bombast, together with thunderingly baritone German shouting, created a unique experience which the band continued to hone and perfect with each passing album. Reise, Reise actually seems less of a step forward and more of an encapsulation of their sound, choosing which elements they deemed to work best over the years and making an album that best represents their strengths as a whole.
Yet, there are plenty of new adventures in the world of Rammstein: accordians on the title track; a beautifully mellow calm and choir intonation on the appropriately-named “Dalai Lama”; acoustic guitar with a distinctly American-roots backdrop on the adventurous “Los”; and the Russian vocals of Viktoria Fersh (second choice when T.A.T.U. couldn’t appear) peppering throughout “Moskau.” For a band that seemed to have tackled quite the gamut of strangeness, Reise, Reise only proves that there is much more up their sleeves.
While there remains quite a bit of the “old” Rammstein sound, fans and purists will be surprised at how toned-down and almost mainstreamed the tracks have become. “Keine Lust” is textbook Rammstein, but in that ascertation, it doesn’t particularly stick out as anything special. This continues throughout the last four tracks of the disc, which features the trademark ballad-like sound they had sprinkled throughout earlier releases, yet none of these songs are particularly memorable or break any new ground.
The first single, “Amerika,” also marks the first time Rammstein broke down and tossed in some english language lyrics; of course, given the subject matter, it’s only appropriate. While Americans are certainly used to being the subject of disdain across a rather large number of countries, the lyrics, “We all live in Amerika, Coca-Cola, Wonderbra” are hilariously representative of the States-centric view that the US has unabashedly projected for decades. Rather than sounding bitter, “Amerika” comes across more as a roast of the States than a genuine hatred. Those who have seen the video are likely to concur.
Considering the rather strange experiments of the disc are met with an entirely derivative and toned-down version of their previous sound, old Rammstein fans might not be entirely happy with this release. For those who are fans of the German scene or industrial metal in general, it almost seems like Rammstein becoming more likeable and less of an iconoclastic freakshow, joining their compatriots in upholding a fantastic underground genre worthy of the worldwide focus. If nothing else, all German bands benefit from Rammstein’s publicity — and with this album, the publicity (aside from the penis-eating, of course) should only be positive.
