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Album Reviews : Rammstein – Untitled

By on May 20, 2019

I’ve listened to Rammstein since I was 8 years old and they mean so much to me. Waiting 3500 days, or 10 years, for a new album hasn’t been easy and the long wait meant that my expectations were unfairly high to begin with. I’ve had to re-write this review a couple of times simply because I found that it wasn’t easy for me to be impartial. I had to actively focus on what I was hearing without trying to make comparisons with the past. This is no Mutter or Reise Reise. I will never think that this is as good because those albums are like my holy grail of music. So to review this, I had to try and remove the die-hard fan in me.

Do I love this album? In its entirety, no. There are some massive peaks and fantastic songs, but also a couple that just doesn’t grab me like Rammstein songs normally would. That’s not to say that they’re bad songs though, it’s just not the direction I would’ve wanted Rammstein to take. Songs like Was Ich Liebe (a song name which carries over from a demo song that is at least ten years old) and Hallomann show a side of Rammstein that we haven’t really seen since they released the Rosenrot album in 2005. The songs are a bit more laid back, think Rosenrot, Spring and Feuer und Wasser. I don’t speak a lot of German, but I get the feeling that there’s a big focus on the lyrics and the vocals with these songs, that there’s a story to be told. I feel like the songwriting shows that Rammstein has matured, most parts
have a true purpose and you can tell that they have been carefully crafted over time.

On the flipside we have great songs. Other than the two singles, which I think are both fantastic in every way possible, Zeig Dich, Ausländer, Diamant, Tattoo and Weit Weg are the standouts. Tattoo and Zeig Dich are your usual Rammstein heavy hitters, the latter made even grander thanks to an epic choir thrown into the mix. It also strongly reminds me of Zerstören off the Rosenrot album. The Tattoo intro has a similar driving beat to Links 234 and the chorus is reminiscent of lesser-known Hallelujah. Ausländer is as much a mix of languages as it is a mix of music styles, incorporating elements that make it feel very 80’s euro disco. It’s more tanz than metal, and I love every second of it. I can clearly visualise a crowd of thousands jumping up and down, singing along with the infectious chorus.

Weit Weg is growing stronger with every listen, eerie and beautiful, Till Lindemann (vocals) and Flake Lorenz (keys) carry this song completely, until the end, where it’s finished off with a short but sweet guitar solo. The intro, as well as the verse, gives me goosebumps every single time. This is probably my favourite song on the entire album, and it’s right up there with the Rammstein hall of famers. Diamant is the sole ballad of this album and it reminds me of both Seemann and Frühling in Paris. Easily on par with the latter, it’s one of the best songs so far, Till’s beautiful lyrics in combination with his vocals speak a language anyone could understand.

Unfortunately, there are two songs in the mid section of the album which are truly disappointing. Sex is this album’s Pussy, just not as clever nor as good. It feels like it could just as easily have been a Pain or Lindemann song, and that’s not a good thing. Sex feels a bit uninspired, and not what I was hoping for after a ten-year wait. Puppe is in this section for one reason only. 90% of the song is in fact fantastic. It’s just that the one time on this album Till Lindemann attempts something different with his voice, it’s a loud and obnoxious chorus where he’s yelling his heart out, and it’s simply not working for me at all. I’d even go as far as saying that it’s one of the worst, if not the worst, Rammstein chorus. I wish that I didn’t have to review the album so soon as I can still feel many of the songs growing on me. As it stands at the moment it’s overall a solid release with a couple of dips here and there. The songwriting is mostly on point, it somehow sounds very much like Rammstein but the band still manages to make it sound fresh. The one thing I do feel is missing on this album is that one song that’s of the same calibre as say Sonne, Mein Teil or Du Hast. Deutschland comes close but falls a bit short. My expectations were very high, and in the end, I can’t help feel a little bit disappointed. This being said, I’m sure most listeners will thoroughly enjoy this album as it is packed with tons of catchy
choruses, heavy and chuggy riffs as well as fantastic vocals.

Rammstein’s new album is out now.

Band: Rammstein
Album: Untitled
Year: 2019
Genre: Neue Deutsche Härte
Label: Universal
Origin: Germany

About

Martin is an aspiring music photographer/videographer. He is originally from the southern parts of Sweden and now he's living in Sydney, Australia. Thanks to his older sister, he got into Rammstein at the age of 9, and since then he's been into all types of metal/rock. He loves to combine photography and music, but also filming concerts and produce live material. Follow him on Twitter and check out his website.