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Behind the stylistically perfect picture of a boat stranded in ice hides yet another live show, magnificent of course, but which sounds pretty much the same as Rammstein has done for the past two-three albums. When it almost sounds like the Rammstein of old, but with a low-key, somewhat dry twist, as in first single "Benzin", it is actually quite boring. And when they go a bit too far in order to create something completely different, it is in "Te quero puta!", sung in Spanish (!), it’s pretty horrible. But at the same time – these are the songs that probably will be fun watching on stage, compared to pretty ordinary Rammstein-sounding, but better, hard and heavy "Feuer and Wasser" (Fire and water), "Rosenrot" and – slow and brilliant – "Wo bist du" and "Ein Leid". They sound very much like the pompous industrial techno metal which Rammstein perfected on "Sehnsucht" and then grinded on with on "Mutter" and "Reise Reise" – and I, for one, don’t want more of the same. Maybe it is the fact that Jacob Hellner once more produces the album that does it, maybe Till Lindemann and his men have found a winning recipe and stick to it. I don’t know. What I do know, though, is that as a German cabaret with heavy guitars, Rammstein is unsurpassed by everyone except maybe Marilyn Manson’s "Golden Age of Grotesque". But I also know that as a whole, "Reise Reise" was more fun and rewarding. "Rosenrot" is in many ways a step backwards from the quirkiness of "America", for example. As is shown in the pale copy of "Engel" – "Stirb nicht vor mir/(Don’t Die Before I Do)" with Texas' Sharleen Spiteri on vocals together with Till. But again, it will probably be fun on stage – and that is the whole point of a cabaret, isn’t it? KALLE MALMSTEDT |
