With drool practically trickling down my cheek, I embraced into
\nmy capitalist, greedy arms one of the most highly anticipated
\nalbums of the year so far: the new Rammstein album called
\nMutter<\/i> (Mother). Well, after a seemingly endless four-year
\nwait since the last studio album (which was also their breakthrough
\nin North America),
\nSehnsucht<\/i> in 1997,
\nMutter<\/i> delivers on all accounts and then some.<\/p>\n
\nSehnsucht<\/i> was a solid effort and contained numerous superb
\nsongs, but the album had a tendency to overstay its welcome a bit
\nbecause the last three or four songs did not particularly stand out
\nin any way. That is not the case with
\nMutter<\/i>. The flow of the album is excellent, starting with a
\nbombastic opening number, a grand epic in the middle, and a solemn,
\nmelancholy parting at the end, with oodles of teutonic explosive
\naggression and typically gloomy German self examination in
\nbetween.<\/p>\n
I just simply cannnot get enough of Rammstein’s music…it’s the
\nultimate marriage of crushingly violent, primal aggression and
\nwistful sentimental melodicism with it’s roots in the classical
\nGerman romantic era of the 19th century with its extremely
\nWagnerian overtones. It seems like such a paradox, but they pull it
\noff brilliantly; each song has an extremely catchy chorus without
\nsounding commercial at all, and these fantastic melodies are
\nembedded beneath an unbelievably powerful layer of thundering
\nrhythms and monstrous guitar riffs that pound you into submission,
\naccompanied by the ever present electronic sounds and
\nkeyboards.<\/p>\n
What makes
\nMutter<\/i> their finest hour to date is the fact that the band
\nsounds tighter and more confident in actual musicianship,
\ndevelopment of melodic ideas, arrangements, and lyric writing. What
\nsurprised me even more was that of the 11 tracks, none of them are
\nfiller as opposed to a good three or four last time around. Sure,
\nthere’s not a great deal of stylistic diversity or experimentation,
\nbut Rammstein have an unmistakably distinctive sound all their own
\nwhich they have perfected and refined on this release.<\/p>\n
The sheer blitzkrieg force of intensity cannot be ignored, and
\nthe songs do not become repetitive due to the presence of a
\nplethora of massively engaging hooks combined with a dramatic
\ndelivery that make each track unique and a joy to listen to. It
\nreminds me of the scene in
\nA Clockwork Orange<\/i> where Alex beats the stuffing out a
\nhapless victim while cheerfully humming the theme from
\nSinging In The Rain<\/i>.<\/p>\n
While the electonic element may be a tad more restrained and
\nsubtle this time around, this in no way weakens the overall work.
\nFrom the prominent orchestral riffs on the bombastic opener “Mein
\nHerz Brennt” (My Heart Burns), to the military marching sounds on
\n“Links 2-3-4” (Left 2-3-4), to the grandeur of “Mutter” (Mother),
\nto the anarchy of “Adios”, to the haunting Depeche Modian album
\nclosing ballad “Nebel” (Haze, or Fog), the album is guaranteed to
\nentertain on multiple levels.<\/p>\n
The lead vocals as usual are one of Rammstein’s most distinctive
\ntrademarks, raging from a gruff, robotic SS Officer type delivery
\none minute to gentle, soft, and sorrowful the next. Till Lindemann
\nreally shines throughout in this regard, showing us his
\nversatility. Seeing how I’ve begun the name dropping, it would be
\nunfair not to mention the other players: Dual lead guitars supplied
\nby Richard Kruspe and Paul Landers, bass by Oliver Riedel, drums by
\nChristoph Schneider, and keyboards\/electronic programming by Flake
\nLorenz.<\/p>\n
For me personally there is also the added bonus that I can
\nunderstand all the lyrics as well, and let me say that they range
\nfrom Grimm-like chilling to downright depressing most of the time.
\nUsually they deal with lost love, despair, eternal sorrow,
\nerroneous guilt, vengeance, atrocity, doomed romance, lonliness,
\nhate, perversion, and death…happy stuff eh! It’s all very
\ntypically German. There are many recurring mentions of flames,
\nflesh, blood, and mothers. Weird stuff, but the lyrics are written
\nmuch more expertly than on
\nSehnsucht<\/i>, which went a bit overboard in the perverted
\nsleaze department.<\/p>\n
In conclusion, I highly recommend this record to everyone,
\nespecially people who like their earlier output, but also anyone
\nwho has an appreciation for aggressive music, be it of the metal or
\nindustrial kind, and yes, even opera. Even though we are only four
\nmonths into the year, in my opinion
\nMutter<\/i> is already a frontrunner for best album of 2001.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":28118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6567],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-39513","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-rammstein","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39513"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}