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[UK Version]
It's official- Rammstein is the best-selling German-language band ever. The East-Germans released their debut album Herzeleid in 1995 and haven't slowed down their success since.
The Boys
Till Lindemann - vocals
Richard Z. Kruspe-Bernstein - Guitars
Christoph Schneider - Drums
Oliver Riedel - Bass
Paul Landers - Guitars
Christian "Flake" Lorenz - keyboards
Fast Facts
- They were named after a city in which a Jet accident had occured
- Till was a basket-weaver
- They are the #1 German export
- Richard escaped from East Germany in 1989 and eventually ended up in West Berlin
Track Analysis- Reise, Reise(4:11)- This is a really nice song to kick off an incredible album. Shortly after its smoothe start we get a dose of Drop D chords, then come the very appropriate lyrics. The song is basically about a seaman at sea in encountering trouble. This is one of the more consistant songs of the album and not one to be overlooked.
- Mein Teil(4:32)- After seeing the music video and hearing the song for the first few times, you really get an aggressive vibe out of it: the video is quite simply disgusting, and the song is about Canabalism. Till just spits out the sick lyrics and also there are a few puns on "Teil" which also can mean Penis in slang. You need to listen to this song a few times to appreciate it. I have heard the Germany version and i have to say that i prefer this one.
- Dalai Lama(5:38)- Personally, I haven't grown to like this song yet. It seems to me a little bit too dull and unatractive. However, it does have somewhat of a nice chorus and its an overall smoothe song: not too heavy but still maintains a consistancy with the rest of the songs on the album.
- Keine Lust(3:42)- This track features some nice work on the keyboards that fit in nicely. Keine Lust, meaning "no desire" or "Don't feel like it", has some nice emotional parts that raise its stock. The song is quite nice and gets better as it goes on. A solid track on the album.
- Los(4:25)- This song is not one of the weaker songs on the album - the guitar riffs are too repetitive, the harmonica doesn't really belong, and the vocals aren't too fitting. It can be a good track to listen to if you are in an odd mood or whatnot, but it is an odd song to say the least.
- Amerika(3:46)- This is the hit single of the album that has the boys performing on the moon and show that America owns pretty much everything. The song mostly says how wonderful america is and mentions a few things about the country... it has a short but cool solo near the end and is one of the more solid tracks - definately a song to check out if you like songs like "Ich Will", "Links 234", "Asche zu Asche", etc.
- Moskau(4:16)- Growing up in East Germany, these guys were close to Russia and Russian culture. Moskau is portraid as being a beautiful city and a prostitute with golden teeth. The track features some backing vocals in Russian, which is neat. The music and rhythm is quite well managed and is catchy. Another cool keyboard solo is featured a little bit past the midway point.
- Morgenstern(3:59)- Morningstar, translated, is a nice song. Some operatic backing vocals, and rough german verses make for a unique sounding song. Nothing special musically, but a nice song to listen to to lift your spirits. This is basically another song about love as Till urges his morning star to shine before him.
- Stein um Stein(3:56)- At first, when i listened to this song, i drew a link to a system of a down sounding song with all the turbulent vocals and frantic screaming falling suddenly into a soft ballad-y style. This is nonetheless a nice track to listen to but sometimes it is ideal to skip it for the sake of headache prevention.
- Ohne Dich(4:32)- MY favourite song on this album: a nice ballad with powerful lyrics. A nice calm start to what turns out to be a true epic. Ohne Dich (Without you) is a sad song if you can really relate to it. This is the third single from the album and the video is nothing less than remarkably: definately one of the most impressive videos ever, especially if you can understand the song. A beautiful song.
- Amour(4:50)- Amour means "Love" in french, and you guessed it, this song is about Love. This is a nice song too. With lines like "Die Liebe ist ein wildes Tier" (Love is a wild animal) you really get into the thoughts of Till and once again, if you can relate to the song and understand the lyrics, it is a really emotional song.
Positive And Negative Aspects of the Album- Positive
- Very nice melodic songs
- Strong rhythm
- Good use of keyboards
- Nice lyrics
- Negative
- Some Inconsistancy
- All songs in Drop D
- Not too much musical skill shown
- Hard for non-German speakers to really understand the songs
So thats it folks, my latest review is in the books - i usually try to keep reviews short but this one is a tad longer than usual :-/. If you liked Mutter chances are you will like Reise, Reise. This album is a nice one to have in your collection.
4/5
| other reviews of this album |
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Nice review for a good album. A few tracks I want to comment on:
One of my favourite songs is Steim Um Stein, it's just so creepy. The lyrics are great and totally fit the atmposphere of the song.
Mein Teil is, I believe, writtem with that German cannibal in mind (who placed an ad to find someone who wanted to be eaten and succeeded is his goals...). I liked the song straight away, it has a very threatning feel to it.
Los is defintely and oddball song. It's fun, different song, I think the main 'problem' is the position in the track list.
Amerika, has, I'm pretty certain, pretty sarcastic lyrics. It's about the influence the US has in the world (Mickey mouse stands before Paris) and how it wants control (Wenn getanzt wird, will ich führen, auch wenn ihr euch alleine dreht, lasst euch ein wenig kontrollieren, Ich zeige euch wie´s richtig geht. => I want to lead when dancing, also when you turn alone, let me control you a bit, I'll show you how it's done right). Add the "This is not a love song" part and it all become pretty clear. The music is pretty straight forward and it's one of my least favourite songs on the album.
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I prefer Mutter, this is still a decent album, but it lack something that I can't quite define.
Good review though, to the point.
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I enjoyed this album and thought it was a decent offering,
favourite song were "ohne dich", "amour" and "moskau".
The songs on this album had more passion and less techniqe than mutter ( not really good or bad thing).
this is an awesome album and already an old favourite and more than worth the money i payed for it
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I loath Rammstein with every fiber of my being. A horrible example of what Industrial music is.
All hatred aside, your review wasn't too bad. Good song info and I liked the points for and against the music. Nice work.
But why is the entire album played in Drop D a weak point?
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well, i really don't like one-fingered power chords and that and to make it sound 'heavier' is basically the only reason they use Drop D tuning..
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its too bad that i cant really speak german to enjoy the lyrics of Ohne Dich. but o well
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yeah i read your review which was good. but i thought it was so funny that you missed out on the point of Amerika like that. Totally there to show how america is everything *not a good thing in their opinion. Mickey mouse in paris was to show the export of disneyland to france. lol. i thought it was hilarious. the lyrics are ok sometimes, but how could you listen to this when you cant understand it 
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Mannnn... this is the first full Rammstein album i've heard, and I may just have to get them all. I also prefer Ohne Dich as well, it's a really good song. I've never seen the vidoe though. I also love the song Keine Lust, it's a relly upbeat song, the video is hilarious, and the little keyboard solo is to die for! Also, you gotta love this band's "anything goes" aesthetic. These guys, while technically precice with their music, are still carrying on the rock and roll spirit with not writing music about just one thing, and being open to experimentation. Kudos to Rammstein!
Note: I was one of the ones who heard Du Hast and immediately wrote them off as some sort of Nazi-ish version of Rob Zombie... Boy, was I ever wrong!
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As a German speaker, I love this album like crazy because the lyrics are incredibly moving and well-written (except Mein Teil, that's just f*cking creepy). Ohne Dich and Amerika are two of the best songs I've heard in any language.
Great review, with the song-by-song analysis and the pro/con section, but the Drop-D does not belong under a 'con'...Drop-D tuning gives a lot of songs a great sound IMO.
I think overall Mutter is a better album, and maybe Sehnsucht. The title track to Mutter, and Engel from Sehnsucht, are my personal favorite Rammstein songs, but are really only truly great, again, if you speak the language.
Once more, great review.
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This CD is actually pretty good. Deathtopoppunk, you say that you think this is "a horrible example of industrial" but it's sort of obvious that Rammstein isn't trying to write some quintessential industrial album. In fact, there isn't all that much industrial on the CD considering the more ovewhelming tendencies for poppy metal and dance music. Also pop punk can be cool. Like Saosin, Gatsby's American Dream, Alkaline Trio, and the Descendents.
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1. Dalai Lama... you need to read the translation of the lyrics to fully appreciate the creepy-ness of this song, the lyrics are very deep and well scary.
2. Los is a beautiful song about the forming of Rammstein and their struggle (i beleive) and was such a touching song to see live .the fact is if you aren’t a german speaker like me (although i can understand a bit) then get off your lazy bum and find the english translations, they're everywhere! i'll even send you mine if you ask nicely!.
3. Amerika wow you really were asleep when you were listening to this wernt you? its about GLOBALISATION say it with me... i dont really think any of Rammstein even like america (maybe Richard, he spent alot of time there)
4. Moskau... tills sings about Moscow being a fat prostitute... enough said...
5. Morgenstern has to be my favourite Rammstein song because of the meaning behind the lyrics "look with your heart, not your eyes" so its not just another love song, infact there isnt much love in the song, just a very beautiful message!
6. Stein um stein is actually psycotic but loving... till sings about walling his lover in a house and putting her feet in cement so she cant run away again and he will never loose her... quite sweet.
7. Amour means "Love" in french, well done...this song is about Love but not in the way you imply m'dear!. "Die Liebe ist ein wildes Tier" (Love is a wild animal) is about the sinister side of love and how it gets hold of you and mauls you. its the sinister side of love, hoew you are too small and powerless to resist against this large animal, so you get dragged into loves "nest" and you cant escape. the fact is its made to make people beleive the song is all aaaawwwww love but then you see the clever sinisterness behind it all! Rammstein fooled you. The fact is not many Rammstein songs are very aww nice love, but there are some e.g. Ohne Dich, Klavier (based on the line: "she plays for me alone"), Hierite Mich (but loads of necrophilia involved), Nebel (makes me cry, lovers last kiss basically) and thats really it.
anyone want to talk bout this then...
charlotte_the_harlot@rock.com
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I was excited when I heard Rammstein was comming out with a new CD. But when I got it I was a bit dissapointed. It is a good CD but it is not as good as their others.
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I really love this album. This is the first Rammstein album I've heard, and I've not heard much other than this. I quite enjoy it though, even though I can't understand the lyrics at all. I absolutely love Los. All the instruments just seem to fit together perfectly. Except for the German lyrics, it sounds a lot more like an American song. Anyway, yes, thats about it.... GOOD ALBUM!
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
I have this CD. I didn't like it at first but it definatley grows on you. My favourite point on the whole album is the keyboard solo in Amerika.
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I think Rammstein is the ultimate example of hype making a band seem better than they are. They're pretty much the only foreign language industrial(up for debate) band that anyone ever talks about and everyone acts like they're the greatest thing to happen since sliced bread.
I don't speak Germand and I don't want to waste money on an album that musically isn't very impressive and I can't even understand. Plus I find the singer's voice absolutely hideous.
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My view of it probably isn't representative of reality. It just feels that way to me because the good majority of my friends are all into Rammstein and it just feels like a lot of hype about nothing. I think the majority of people like them because they've been told to by others.
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Good Album.....that's all for now folks!
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great review, i only don't get the negative point "all in drop D". why is that negative, that is only easier so you don't have to do all that sh*t with the guitar. And Tool also uses everything with drop D, and even if you don't like Tool, you have to admit that he can make incredible guitar parts.
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Real men play in standard.
Go Opeth! (except for Blackwater Park... and maybe Ghost Reveries)This Message Edited On 10.06.05
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Drop D, you can do some absolutely crazy stuff you can't do with standard
tuning...plus, it gives you more notes to play.
Rammstein I like...they had that one song in XXX, Feuer Frei. Love that
song...great pumpup song.
Reise, Reise is a good song, especially that heavy opening part.This Message Edited On 10.06.05
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