Website: Oomph!
Is Oomph! a new name to you? Glaube Liebe Tod is their ninth full-length studio release. Unfortunately, that’s the way of the world when European bands record in any language other than English, unless you’re recording industrial or other electronic music. And that’s where Oomph!’s anonymity remains a mystery: once a purely electronic act, crossing over to industrial, and crossing over again into metal, they have managed to avoid nearly every radar by being too genre-mixed and too, well, German.
Language prejudices aside, Glaube Liebe Tod (translation: Faith Love Death) builds on the sound Oomph! has been creating since 1999’s Plastik, when the band truly dove head-first into heavy music. They haven’t forgotten their synthesizers, but rather than creating danceable (or stompable) beats, they use their powers for metal. Also noteworthy is the absence of any songs in English, as their previous releases nearly all contained at least one awkwardly-translated gem. If that’s their way of thumbing America, good for them. I wouldn’t reach out to a country that has ignored me for 15 years, either.
Positives: Oomph!’s greatest strength has always been and will always be a sound all their own. “Gott ist ein Popstar” (translation: “God is a pop star”) opens the album with a bang, not dissimilar from their previous album, Warheit Oder Pflicht. “Du willst es doch auch” is exemplary, with a mood and hook that sticks in your head regardless of what language you speak. In fact, it’s the hooks all over this disc, coupled with a very complimentary use of guitar and synth, that holds the entire package together. Although, this has been the case with their last few albums as well.
Negatives: If you’re an Oomph! listener, Glaube Liebe Tod will not surprise you; they haven’t stepped far outside of the path they’ve been laying for the last few years. However, it’s not tedious. For Americans, the big negative to not knowing the language is being unable to discern the subject matter; considering their previous efforts have contained songs like “Hello My Name is Cancer,” it’s safe to presume they’re not particularly heart-wrenching.
Crossbreed: Rammstein meets Stabbing Westward or God Lives Underwater.
Reason to Buy: To buy any of the latter Oomph! discs is worth it for fans of gritty electronica or experimental metal; this one in particular versus their best effort to date (Plastik), it’s not tackling much that they haven’t done before, but the irresistable hooks and the unique stylings are worth an addition to a quirky metal collection.
