Rammstein
Sehnsucht

THE REVIEW

1997: Two years have passed since the seminal "Herzeleid" and the Rammstein bomb finally explodes: it returns to the scene with a more than epochal album, the definitive expression of tanz-metall. This album is called "Sehnsucht" and will have a tremendous influence even on the greatest sacred monsters of more classic heavy metal (just think of the grooves of Judas Priest's "Demolition," or even the keyboard intro of Maiden’s "The Angel And The Gambler").

To understand the character of "Sehnsucht," just look at the cover (or rather, the 6 covers) and the gloomy tropical landscape on the back. We are faced with an album with a dark and more powerful and incisive sound in the riffs compared to its predecessor, 11 songs that exalt the collective and leave not the slightest room for boredom and dead points. The themes addressed revolve around passion and desire (Engel and Alter Mann aside), obviously analyzed in their most scabrous and controversial forms.

That the album is a masterpiece is understood right from the initial one-two punch: first the title track "Sehnsucht", an enchanting journey that delves deep into the recesses of desire through exotic and suggestive metaphors, like the melody itself, at times oriental and punctuated by absolutely perfect keyboards, and then "Engel", the track chosen to launch the album: it is a hypnotic and impactful song, made unmistakable by that whistle that repeats continuously and by the arcane and sensual voice of singer Christiane "Bobolina" Herbold. The lyrics are wonderful, presenting angels (yes, those blond with blue eyes, wings, and a white tunic) as solitary, unhappy beings chained to the sky.

The backbone of this 11 wonders is constituted by the songs representing the final evolution of tanz-metall, songs like "Tier", "Bestrafe Mich", "Du Hast", "Buck Dich", "Eifersucht" and "Kuss Mich (Fellfrosch)", all under four minutes long and all damn catchy and compelling, ingenious in their simplicity: sharp riffs and always perfect arrangements, enough to make many pop stars green with envy. Each of these songs has its own character and message to convey (more or less sick, but always original and far from any cliché or commonplace) and each of them represents a precious piece for deeply understanding this milestone.

In "Sehnsucht," signs of that virus called gothic also begin to manifest strongly, which in four years will completely infect the Steamroller. This is understood when Our Guys plant there, so suddenly, songs like "Spiel Mit Mir" and "Alter Mann", where the rhythm slows down and the atmosphere becomes dark, brooding, claustrophobic, black in a word, as is the absolutely black mood of "Klavier", Rammstein's cursed ballad, far from the sweet melancholy of "Seemann", "Mutter", "Ohne Dich" or "Stirb Nicht Vor Mir".

In summary, this is not an ordinary album, it is a kind of Dantean amusement park whose purchase is virtually mandatory for those who love strong emotions, because in front of the whistle of "Engel", the suffocating grooves of "Eifersucht" and "Du Hast", the riff of "Kuss Mich (Fellfrosch)", the refrain of "Tier", the arrangements of "Spiel Mit Mir", the piano line of "Klavier", the emotional crescendo of "Bestrafe Mich" and the lyrics of Till Lindemann everyone should tip their hat.