(Time, Please stop, stop)
Zeit, das soll immer so weitergehen
(Time, It should always go on like this)
Zeit, es ist so schön, so schön
(Time, It's so beautiful, so beautiful)
Ein jeder kennt den perfekten Moment
(Everyone knows the perfect moment)”
I think it’s a safe bet to say that it has been a struggle for all of us in recent years fellow Otaku & Metalheads. 2020 was an absolute disaster for practically everyone across the world, and while 2021 was most certainly an improvement in many aspects, there was still plenty of strife in other aspects of this little blue planet we live on. There’s been so much chaos in recent memory, that I think we’ll be dealing with it until the end of this decade. Historians will be having a field day in a few decades about what was going on during this time, and generations centuries from now will just scratch their heads as to how things went to hell so badly. Hell, even by 2030 many of us are gonna be stumped as to how bad the crap was able to hit the fan.
I think it’s also a safe bet to say that much of our media is gonna carry this emotional weight as well for sometime. Music in particular seems to be up to the task for this, and Heavy Metal most definitely. Both serious & lighthearted bands have been carrying the torch to get us through these times, all thanks to their various records that they have released in 2020 as well as the few short years afterwards. Now, last year I had what was basically the musical equivalent of Yin and Yang at my no. 1 spot, and I still stand by that decision. One of my no. 1's will be looked at in November, but the other no. 1 album I’m reviewing today should not surprise you at all.
I think even those who aren’t the biggest fans of Metal are even remotely familiar with the Teutonic Titans known as Rammstein. For almost 30 years old, these 6 guys have conquered their native Germany, Europe, the United States, and eventually the world with their unique brand of Industrial Metal. A little bit of shock value, a little bit of political dissection & analysis, a little bit of heavy emotion, and a little bit of dry and crude humor. That was what Rammstein was all about. Back in 2019, the band made a triumphant return with their self-titled album, and to say that it hit hard is understating things. As I described it a few times, it was like meeting an old-friend you haven’t seen in a decade, and this friend has improved so much in all the right ways. Even with the rumors that they might have been calling it a career after the record came out, it still felt like a titan woke up from it’s slumber, and we all came flocking towards it.....then 2020 happened.
I’ll keep repeating myself until the day I croak, but to be honest.....do I even need to? Even the most ignorant among us know what that plague-ridden year was like, and those that dealt with it first hand remember it’s slimy effects all too well. I wasn’t affected by it back then, as me & my family stayed pretty cooped up in the house, except for my Father who had to go out to work on certain days. It wasn’t until April of last year ironically enough when we had all caught the Plague, and now we all knew what some people went through (I’ll elaborate on that if any of you are curious). I will say this: if there was one Good thing about 2020 being tyrannically held by a once-a-century plague, it was that sings & bands of all genres made the most of the situation. Rammstein was no exception to the rule, as when they managed to get together, they crafted what is in my mind the album that may very well define this entire decade by it’s end.
Released on the 29th of April in 2022, Zeit (Time) is a considerably different creature than what Rammstein released in 2019. Whereas that self-titled was a massive warm welcome back into the spotlight, full of upbeat energy that signaled the return of a legend......Zeit isn’t. Make no mistake: Zeit is a perfect & flawless album. Like their 2019 outing, there isn’t a single back track anywhere in it’s near 45 minute runtime (44 minutes & 6 seconds), as the band worked their absolute asses off, and crafted a record that will easily stand the test of time. The guitar, bass, drums, keyboarding, and vocal work are all wonderful. What I’m referring to is it’s energy, as Zeit goes in a different direction, dealing with some pretty heavy subject matter. Though there is still some shock value & dry/crude humor on a track or two, the vast majority deal with things like time, death, the finality & beauty of life, honesty, fear, and goodbyes. It’s pretty heavy stuff, but when the world has gone through a horrific plague, it makes those subjects immensely more powerful, to the point where it really twists your emotions into knots at times. Yet, there is a strange beauty to how emotionally heavy the album is. Sure, it grabs you by the emotional balls and isn’t afraid to squeeze really hard sometimes, but there’s also something life affirming during the album’s playtime. Rammstein are more than capable of making it’s audience laugh, but they’re also not afraid to get a little real & serious once in a while, and Zeit manages to embody that reality & seriousness.....most of the time anyway.
So it stands to reason that I consider the title track to be the best song on this album. Don’t get it wrong: Like I said earlier, there’s good tracks across the entire record, but the face of it is the first single the band put out. Unlike Deutschland, which hit you practically immediately with it’s heaviness, Zeit builds and builds before unleashing a sonic assault. Even when it arrives, it still builds just a little bit, goes away, then comes back in full force. What does hit you right away is the sheer emotion of the tune. To put it simply, Zeit is just a reassurance that we are all going to eventually die. No if’s, and’s, or butts about it. We are all going to croak someday or another, and there isn’t anything we can do about it. However, it’s also about the fact that we don’t want to die. We just want the beauty of life, cheesy as that sounds, to never go away, and want this one perfect moment to keep going forever. It’s an incredibly heartbreaking track, yet it’s also oddly beautiful at the same time. If I had any complaint about the song, it would be that it’s the second tune you hear, and not something like the second to last track....though weirdly enough not the last one in this album’s case.
Zeit
So with all of this praise, is there anything bad about Zeit? I don’t think so. Much like their self-titled release back in 2019, Rammstein put out an album that is consistent in terms of instrumentation, emotion, and quality. That being said, something about this record is.....off. I’m not exactly sure what it is, as when I just figure out what that thing is.....it somehow just disappears into another part of the album, and when I get to that part said something goes away yet again. Maybe it’s because of the face that it was recorded during the 2020/2021 lockdown, I’m not sure. All I know is that there is definitely something off with Zeit, and I can’t figure out what it is over a year later.
Zeit easily gets a 10 out of 10. Despite the odd off-ness that lurks on the album, the emotional heaviness & the craftsmanship of the instrumentation/keyboarding is the strongest it’s ever been. It might have been a little higher rated than what the band’s self-titled record from 2019 was, but that off-ness instead has it time comfortably with the previously mentioned, and I’m not going to complain about that!
And that was my look at the first of my two number 1 albums of 2022. Zeit is an album that tugged at my heart pretty hard, and I’m interested in what Rammstein might do next. So, I got all of my top 5 records from 2022 reviewed outside of the two I always cover in November. So see you all later on this year for that. In the meantime, June is just a week or two away, and I got an interesting theme for this year. Until then, take care!
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If you’re interested in listening to Zeit, then click on the link below:
Zeit (Album)
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