Rammstein
Rosenrot

THE REVIEW

Those times when I feel particularly like an MTV kid, I bring out the good old Rammstein, one of my first encounters with metal. Actually, this isn't true industrial metal; I'd rather call it metal with lipstick. Just look at the live performances of these six guys, even more exaggerated than Kiss, and not always falling into the realm of self-irony.

I'm about to review this already-reviewed album to point something out to both purist metalheads and those who have dismissed Rammstein as crap.

This "Rosenrot" consists of eleven songs, as usual, five of which were already composed at the time of "Reise, Reise," but it presents some remarkable differences from the rest of the Rammstein production, already noticeable in the previous album. The stylistic evolution characterizing this album is indeed remarkable. Rammstein's early production was characterized by very rock sounds mixed with abundant electronics, often giving everything a distinctly danceable feel. Additionally, Till Lindemann's deep voice often sounded bombastic with the song, but the worst part was the lyrics: not only was singing in German hard to manage, but the lyrics often revolved around themes tied to sadomasochistic practices or even more absurd ones (see "Laichzeit"), they were rather whimsical (like the song "Herzeleid") or rather bland. The best songs were usually the ballads, like "Seemann" and "Klavier".

In "Rosenrot," even more than in "Reise, Reise," you notice less techno-clubby components in the sound in favor of more sophisticated, almost dark sounds, and deeper reflections in the lyrics, which is noticeable, as in my case when I don't have the translation in front of me, even when you don't understand absolutely anything of the lyrics. The use of German transforms from a decent variant of singing in English to a very valid differentiation that highlights the nuances of German compared to English, which is rather poor in nuances. After the energetic "Benzin", we have "Mann gegen Mann", which deals with issues related to sex in a rather serious way this time (apart from some shouted parts and the absurd video clip). The title track "Rosenrot" is instead a triumph of dark sounds, Oliver Riedel's bass does a good job and is one of my absolute favorite songs. Then there are three songs in the genre where these Backstreet Boys of metal seem more talented, almost ballads, "Spring", the romantic "Wo bist Du?" and "Stirb Nicht vor Mir", featuring a collaboration with an American singer (a certain Sharleen Spiteri): although this last song tends towards Sanremo (horror), it is really enjoyable to listen to when you have nothing better to do. With "Zerstören", we have a really heavy alternation of parts where Lindemann effectively expresses his desire for destruction with calm, almost redemptive parts.

"Hilf mir", technically impeccable, is one of the most successful tracks on the album. "Te Quiero Puta!" is a song entirely in Spanish, rather cute, reminding us how Rammstein are after all hillbillies tending towards the commercial side who like to be so without us being surprised at the unexpected change of course. "Feuer und Wasser" is my least favorite track on the album, but it's still very pleasant, while "Ein Lied", leaning heavily towards a ballad, calmly concludes the album with a touch of dark. This album deserves a 4/5 out of 5, but considering Rammstein's previous efforts, which weren't bad, I'll give it a 5.

Next time I'll try to tackle something more like Slayer, if I can.