That’s right, Mini Month! Throughout all of February, I’ll be examining bands with small discographies rather than large ones. 3 bands, to be exact. Each of them are all unique, and offered up something special to Heavy Metal. Today’s band I’ve actually covered once before all the way back in January of 2015, but thought that they needed their own time to shine (As well as hinting at them in my top 5 albums of 2018 post). Coming out of the shadows of one of the world’s most iconic Industrial Metal band, this group would create their own music that was similar, but would forge their own path. With that out of the way, let’s take a look at Richard Z. Kruspe’s side/solo project Emigrate, and see what they had to offer.
Emigrate (2007/2008)
Put out on the 31st of August in 2007 in Europe, and the 29th of January in 2008 in both the United States & Australia, Emigrate is an album that feels similar to Richard’s main band (More on that later), but at the sametime their was a more emotional & vibrant energy coursing through the record. Not only that, but Emigrate (The band & the album) comes across as less serious and dark. It’s still in that camp to a degree, but it doesn’t feel oppressive, and there’s more of a fun factor in each of the songs.
Best Track? Going for a tie between the highly emotional songs In My Tears & Babe. Richard really was delving into his own soul across this album, but it’s these two tracks where I think he does so the most. Each tune deals with the issues of a relationship, with the former asking for a partner’s help to not drown in one’s sorrow, while the later has the boyfriend telling his lover not to be afraid around him. Together, these two really reflect what some couples might be going through sometimes, and even if you’re single you might feel something by the time you’re done listening to these two.
In My Tears
Babe
Worst Track? Despite Richard’s inaugural output with his solo project, it comes as being a little too similar to Rammstein. For the most part this relates to the tone of the album, but 2 tracks use beats & rhythms from prior Rammstein songs. In My Tears takes certain elements from Stein Um Stein off of Reise Reise, and Blood is almost a carbon copy of Links 2 3 4 from Mutter. Ironically, Blood is only available off of the limited edition version of the album. In his defense, Reise Reise was released in 2004, and Mutter came out in 2001, so my guess is that Richard still had those records in his head when he went into the studio, and thus I can’t completely complain.
Emigrate. A fun starting record, but one that seemed a little too attached to the past. It would take 7 long years before the band would really hit their stride, but it would definitely be worth the wait. Next album!
Silent So Long (2014)
With the first album out of the way, plans for Richard to progress Emigrate any further had to be put on hold, as Rammstein was in the studio for Liebe Ist Für Alle Da, and there was a subsequent tour to promote the record in question. So for a short time the side project was put on hold, but once the tour slowed down things could progress again. On June the 24th in 2011, Joe Letz (Who showed up in the video for My World) stated that Kruspe had been working on a new record. On December 5th, 2012, a statement on the Emigrate facebook page announced that demos were being recorded and reviewed, and that there was studio time getting setup a month later to officially begin recording the album. Richard announced in January of 2013 that the drum parts were getting recorded, and in January of 2014 he said that 20 tracks were produced, and the record had a projected summer release date. In March of 2014 he said that things were finished, and he went back to Berlin to work on anything leftover. July the 22nd came around, and a teaser trailer of the album & it’s name was put on facebook with a date for the 17th of October 2014. After a little more delaying, Silent So Long was released on November the 14th, 2014 in Europe, and December 9th 2014 in the United States.
Personally, this is what Emigrate’s first release should have been! Again, Emigrate wasn’t a bad record by any means, but it still stood in Rammstein’s shadow, and thus felt like something from that band’s camp instead of it’s own. Here? Richard had so much more breathing room to do his own thing, and the end result is still an emotional release full of riffage, industrial noise, and other fun things.
Best Track? Once again going back to my Rammstein overview, I gotta give it up to the collaborative songs that make up a fair bunch of Silent So Long. More specifically, the tracks Rock City, Hypothetical, and the title track are the best things on here, and each had a powerhouse of a guest vocalist. Rock City had the legendary Lemmy Kilmister, Hypothetic acquired the services of the controversial Marilyn Manson, and Silent So Long gained the voice of Korn frontman Johnathan Davis. Each of the songs in questions sound like a lost track: Rock City sounds like something from a later day Motorhead album, Hypothetical comes across like an unreleased Marilyn Manson track, and Silent So Long feels like something that wasn’t added onto The Paradigm Shift from 2013. This is really cool, and I hope that Richard & the rest of Emigrate do this in the future.
Rock City
Hypothetical
Silent So Long
Worst Track? For every collaborative track I like, there seemed to be another one that I didn’t. It wasn’t because of the quality, cause I don’t think there’s a single bad track on Silent So Long, but more because I didn’t recognize who the guest vocalists were. Frank Dellé on Eat You Alive, Peaches on Get Down, and Margaux Bossieux on Happy Times are all fine vocalists, but I’ve never listened to any of their prior work, so I don’t feel attached in any way.
Silent So Long. A considerably massive improvement over the first album, and if you were disappointed by what came out in the beginning, you’ll get a kick out of this one. Next album!
A Million Degrees (2018)
You might remember from my top 5 albums of 2018 post (Which you can read here) that I said I barely had an impression of A Million Degrees at the time. To be honest, I barely listened to it at the time, save for 2 or 3 songs. Now that I’ve had a little more time to digest, I can safely say that Emigrate really made something great with this release. Though their last 2 albums were emotional masterpieces, this record really shows that off in spades. In interviews before it came out, Richard stated that he would be delving deep into his soul with the music on A Million Degrees, and after the original recording was destroyed, it just fueled him even more so.
Best Track? For a little bit I was fond of the initial single of the album, 1234. Though I’m normally not a fan of Punk in any fashion, the punkish vibes I got from the previously mentioned track were nice. However, it was Richard’s collaboration with fellow Rammstein member & frontman Till Lindemann on the song Let’s Go that really hooked me, and earned it’s spot as the best track of this album. In interviews Richard stated that he always felt pressure within his original band, but in Emigrate & especially this song, he was at ease with himself, and him and Till could go at their own pace. Let’s Go is the ultimate friendship song, the ultimate relationship song, and overall is just a heartwarming little tune. A weird thing to say about a track off of an Industrial Metal album, but it’s true!
Let’s Go
Worst Track? I’m Not Afraid is the lone bad track on this album, but not for the reason you think. The instrumentation is great, and the keyboarding/sound effects are wonderful, but it’s the implementation of the guest vocals that kind of ruin it. Acquiring the services of Cardinal Copia (Of Ghost fame) is a pretty big deal, but to give him only one sequence in the song while sharing the space with Richard ruins the potential. Silent So Long off the last album succeeds where I’m Not Afraid fails is because Johnathan Davis & Richard Kruspe had equal time, and their voices just seemed to meld together better. If any of you like this song, then it’s doing something for you. For me? It’s just there, and nothing more.
I’m Not Afraid
A Million Degrees. A great way to continue the legacy of a new band, and a strange way to herald the return of an older band, it just makes me hungry for more material. Definitely a worthy addition to Emigrate’s growing library, and definitely worth checking out!
And that was a look at Emigrate. A fun alternative to Rammstein despite being founded by one of that band’s members, the more emotional focus & not as dark nature came across as refreshing. If they can keep it up, they just might be able to become legends in their own right. Coming up in a few weeks we have another short overview, but of an odder & more fantasy nature.
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If you’re curious about listening to these albums, then check out the links below:
Emigrate
Silent So Long
A Million Degrees
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