Lindemann
Skills In Pills

Oh, Till Till, poet, pyromaniac, exhibitionist, inimitable frontman, immeasurable blowhard, but what the heck did you make me listen to!? But that's not the point, it's that I even enjoyed this little record, it entertained me quite a lot, and that worries me a bit. Okay, "Te Quiero Puta" was hilarious, "Pussy" enjoyable, but eleven songs like that one after another, sung in English then? Oh mein gott! Listening to this album/jokery was a real gamble, I came out fine, but the risk was to compromise my perception, my esteem of one of my greatest icons of adolescence. Indeed, for me, Rammstein is still a matter of heart, a serious thing. I have no qualms about defining myself as their fan, they truly deserve it; even today, when asked what my favorite (rock) band is, I answer without hesitation "Rammstein". Looking back, I realize that, in terms of "formative" importance for my journey as a listener, only the Queen (the first love is never forgotten) and ABBA had such a determining influence, alongside them; R+ introduced me to a certain type of electronic, a certain type of attitude, they expanded my "national" horizons so to speak, as they were the first non-English speaking artists I had the chance to know deeply. Among all the metal bands I listened to in those years, they were the only ones that truly meant something, for which my appreciation went deeper than mere superficial fancy, the only ones to open new scenarios for me that genuinely intrigued me.

That's why I couldn't not listen to "Skills In Pills", and after all, I even endured Richard Z. Kruspe's horrid first Emigrate album, a decent smith and nothing more who "tried" to be serious; Till Lindemann messing around and making fun of himself surely couldn't do worse, at worst it would be slightly less crappy, I thought, but in the end, not even that. Together with his multi-instrumentalist mate Peter Tagtgren, he has put together an enjoyable circus with strong self-ironic hues, starting right from the cover, and with themes worthy of a red-flagged hell, inadvisable for a particularly sensitive audience. Till Lindemann is a pirate and a gentleman, does not confuse sex with love, indeed, he keeps love right out of it, here there is only gratuitous sex lavishly dispensed; fetishism in various forms, BDSM, golden showers, sodomy et cetera et cetera. What does "Skills In Pills" have different from a Rammstein album? A lot less ambition for starters, the sounds are less teched out, more homogeneous, less creative (there's no Flake and you can tell): a super catchy bubblegum-metal, fun and amusing, with absolutely playful gothic-orchestral references. Obviously, no refinements like "Nebel", "Reise, Reise", "Dalai Lama", "Ein Lied", "Haifisch", "Roter Sand" and such, all the most artistic aspects of R+ have been completely flattened, even at the level of the lyrics: no sophisticated influences and no allusions, "Skills In Pills" is explicit, vulgar, flashy, tacky and, above all, fucking funny.

In the end, it turned out to be a pleasantly ass-shaking little record, with SIP you dance really enjoyably, and Till's super-sexy deep voice creates an overblown epic/comically epic effect, Peter Tagtgren does a truly excellent job as producer and keyboardist, the sounds are nice and fat, the riffing absolutely insignificant but this is normal, already in R+ the guitar is a much more structural component than an expressive one, imagine here. Among the most notable highlights, I would mainly mention "Fat", a "Fat Bottomed Girl" to the nth degree accompanied by imposing and solemn "Bachian" orchestrations, "Fish On", which reproduces a stylish synth-metal style "Haifisch", then the hilarious parody of "Cowboy" and the title track, an obvious but still enjoyable self-plagiarism of "Mein Land". There are also a couple of tracks that musically might have been valid spurs for the parent company: "Yukon", a beautiful gothic-decadent mid-tempo atmosphere and "That's My Heart", a finely crafted piano-ballad that closes the album proposing a "serious" text and an extraordinary vocal performance by Herr Lindemann; with a voice like that he could have been a great chansonnier/schlagersanger in all respects, in his own way he is, when he's in the mood.

And well done my adorable over-fifty dirty old man complete with a beer belly, who responds to those who "accuse" him of being a clown with a loud laugh and an album like this; without taking anything away from Peter Tagtgren, who as I said has done a really excellent job, creating a fun and tailor-made sound, my dream (perhaps forbidden?) would be a side-project with Till Lindemann and Doktor Flake in the style of the Mael brothers, something truly explosive could come out of it. Now, though, I want the new Rammstein album, which theoretically should arrive between the end of this year and the beginning of 2016, expectations are high because before they become too old for this kind of stuff, they still have some arrows in their quiver, I'm sure of it. Well, I'll wait for them and then we'll see, meanwhile thanks to Till for this unexpected fun, to this day it is my "dance" album of the year, and in all likelihood, it is destined to remain so.