Well, here we are. A review for my number one album of 2019. I still find it hard to believe that this record came out, when before hand it had been nearly a decade since the Industrial titans known as Rammstein had put out anything. Sure, Emigrate managed to out 2 records that were good, and Till Lindemann started a supergroup sideproject with Peter Tägtgren that went by the name of Lindemann (Original, I know), which in turn was also good. However, it wasn’t Rammstein. It wasn’t the sound of one of the most iconic metal bands in all of the world. Then, rumblings towards the end of the 2010s began to ripple out from Germany. Rumblings that got stronger & stronger, until the 17th of May, 2019, when said rumblings became a worldwide earthquake, and the Teutonic Titans return with what is quite possibly their finest piece of work yet. An album so great, it brought me back to my mid teens for a moment in such a nostalgia blast.......I’m somehow still feeling it’s effects today.
That’s right, we’re talking about Rammstein's untitled seventh studio release today. Much like Everfrost’s second album from last year (And a surprise I have for next month), I’m opting for a more relaxed & personal approach to how I look at this record, and with good reason. This thing hit me like the force of 20 stars, and over a year since it’s release I still get smacked in the face whenever I listen to the whole thing. This emotional impact alone convinced me that this relaxed route is the only way to proceed, and proceed I shall! Let’s talk about Rammstein’s self-titled album, and see what the fuss was all about!
In many ways it still feels like a dream that the band put out an album. The side projects that both Richard & Till continued and started respectively certainly generated buzz for their stuff, but for Rammstein itself it seemed like false hope to a certain degree. In particular was Emigrate’s 3rd released at the end of 2018, as while it was a great release, but again it raised false hope. However, 2019 seemed to slay that false hope, as when March came around with the 1st single practically hit everybody in the head with a force of a stealthy sledgehammer. By that point it had be roughly a decade since they put out Liebe Ist Für Alle Da, and it would be an actual decade that October, so to see and hear anything new from them was nothing short of a million volt shock.
I said it before last year on here & when talking with some friends, and I will be saying it here again: listening to this self-titled album felt like meeting an old friend I haven’t seen in a decade. Not only that, but said friend has changed so much.....but he changed so much in all of the right ways. Rammstein have never felt so smooth. Never sounded so clean, and never came across like they lost their edge. In fact, this self-titled record is the most flawless thing they’ve ever released. Their last album definitely held this title for quite a while, but even by the time that no. 7 came out, a dent or two ultimately showed up. On this album, the band shows off their 25 years of experience, and their signature sound sharpened to a obsidian edge. For 46 minutes and 20 seconds, you’re bearing witness to perhaps an essential modern Industrial Metal album......and a release that more than earns the right to help close out the 2010s.
If I was to say what the best songs off of the album are, it would have to be the singles they picked to show off what the release was going to be about. For starters, there’s Deutschland. The longest song at 5 minutes & 23 seconds, it’s perhaps their most introspective track to date, as it examines the history of their home country at various different points. Factor in the music video, and this introspection becomes incredibly obvious. The pacing is perfectly balanced, as it’s not too fast but not too slow, and Till’s voice reflects this as well.
Deutschland
Next up is Radio, and much like Deutschland it’s also something of a introspective piece. However this one is a bit more personal, as it’s more about when radio laws in East Germany began relaxing, and more western/capitalist music came through. In the minds of the band when they were younger, it came across as incredibly naughty......even pornographic at times! To reflect the theme, they made a more Electronic/Industrial song that would be right at home in a dance club. Full of bleeps & boops, they never forget the drums and guitar, and weirdly enough add just a hint of Art Deco to the vibe. I don’t know how that’s possible, but somehow they did.
Radio
Then finally we got Auslander, and hoo boy they got a little politically incorrect with this one! The track that harkens back to some of their earlier material, but has the modern recording & production behind it to not make it sound and feel so old. The lyrics themselves can actually be interpreted in a variety of ways. When the song came out before the music video, there were two camps of thought in this regard: either it was a story about Till’s feeling of being abroad, or it was about the group’s experiences traveling all over the world. How did they decide to interpret the lyrics? Colonialism of course!
Auslander
But throw a dart everybody! Virtually every single song is damn good to listen to. Even Diamant (“Diamond”) is fantastic, and the only flaw is it’s 2 minute & 43 second running time. Nothing on here is skippable, and if you do then it’s a massive shame. The decade-long wait really rubbed out all of the band’s kinks from prior releases, and what we’re left with is the smoothest & cleanest Rammstein album ever, but at the same time a hint of their earliest raw edge came back to remind everyone where they once came from.
If there was anything bad to say about this album, it would be one thing......what took you so long Rammstein!? I thought that Liebe Ist Für Alle Da would be the release that stands the test of time, but after listening to this record things have massively changed. No release beforehand has every sounded so flawless, and no album has ever had such perfect recording & production quite like this one. I understand that after their 2009 outing, they didn’t want to push their luck with another recording in case they broke up, and for so long it felt like nothing was ever going to get released. We definitely had stuff from Emigrate & Till’s supergroup sideproject with Peter Tägtgren, Lindemann, but nothing would ever be as awesome as something from one of Germany’s most iconic bands. So when the first 3 singles came our they were incredible, and when the whole album finally released......it was like discovering them all over again after nearly 20 years.
Rammstein gets a 10 out of 10. No iffs, ands, or butts!
Well, that was a review of my number one album of last year......Rammstein. Not that many records in my collections pulled at my heartstrings so strongly in recent years, but this one does so with incredible swiftness and force. Even if you’re not a fan of Rammstein, or of Industrial Metal in general......this self-titled colossus should be the lone exception to that rule. Well, with this review done, I’m taking the rest of the month off to recharge & get some things done for my final posts of the year. December is just a few weeks away.....and you know what that means!
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