Rammstein - Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da - Album Review

Hrrmmm? I'm actually doing a mini review for a music CD?

Yeah, why not.

I've been a Rammstein nut ever since my early years of high school. The first album I ever heard was the band's second album "Sehnsucht" (translated as "Longing" in a lustful sense) which contained "Du Hast" ("You have/hate"), the song that blasted Rammstein into fame outside of Germany.



The entire album had a raw metal edge, though some of the tracks had background instrumentation that really reinforced their unique take on the metal genre. The song that comes to mind on the Sehnsucht album is the underrated "Alter Mann" ("Old Man").

I have since been a connoisseur of Rammstein, through the thick and thin. The thing that really appealed to me about the band was that when they did heavy metal, they did it good. Songs like "Links 234", "Mein Tiel", and "Teir" ("Left 234", "My Thing", and "Beast" respectively) have extremely primal beats accompanied by raging guitars, making such songs ideal for getting the adrenaline pumping. However, the band also has a great knack at writing power ballads. Songs like "Seemann" and "Ohne Dich" ("Sailor" and "Without You") are some of the most powerfully emotional and well executed songs I have ever heard, and it was the song "Seemann" that actually inspired me to learn bass guitar just to master the beautiful melody.


"Seemann"

The first album, Herzeleid (Heartache) is, in my humble opinion, not fantastic. However, for a first album, a band can do so, so much worse. Their early work has some gems, such as "Asche zu Asche" and "Seemann" ("Ashes to Ashes" and "Sailor").

Sehnsucht brought about a refinement of their metal style, and was the natural evolution of their sound. The band's acclaimed "Du Hast" is present, as well as "Engel" (Angel) and the notorious "Buck Dich" (Bend Down).

The band's (arguably) greatest album is Mutter (Mother), in which their music hits the zenith of diversity and polish. While leaning more towards 'instrumental' instead of 'metal', Mutter is still a fantastic album with the songs "Sonne", "Mein Herz Brennt", "Ich Will", and "Feuer Frei" ("Sun", "My Heart Burns", "I Want", "Fire At Will").

The next album, Reise, Reise (Arise, Arise) did not do as well as fans anticipated, however with hits like "Mein Teil" and "Ohne Dich" it was far from a failure.

The 'extra songs' that were recorded for the original Reise, Reise were released as the album Rosenrot (Rose Red), which is arguably the weakest of the band's works. While the title song "Rosenrot" is good and the music video better, the other spotlighted songs, "Benzin" and "Mann Gegen Mann" ("Gasoline", "Man Against Man") did not impress this critic.

So after nearly five years, Rammstein has released its latest album.
Liebe Ist Fuer Alle Da


So what does this Rammstein fan think of the album? I'll go song-by-song to give you my impressions.


Rammlied - Gets the album started off with a bang. Departing from the power-ballad sound of the previous two albums -Reise Reise and Rosenrot- the song Rammlied shows that Rammstein's music still has teeth and nails. The opening choir piece sounds like 'Soviet' for lack of a better description. A driving guitar riff and a solid beat for the most part, the music is accompanied by a synthesizer melody piece (most noticeably towards the end) that gives the whole song a flavor that I can't quite describe. Still, it is easy to equate the theme of the song to being between the heavy metal of the Sehnsucht album and the more instrumental and powerful pieces of the album Mutter.

Ich Tur Dir Weh - The song starts off with a guitar riff that is very closely related to Keine Lust. When Till Lindemann begins to sing, the song takes on what can only be described as a sort of 'metal blues' as the beat re-enforces a two-four time beat that you can picture a room full of people snapping their fingers at, rather than head banging. But this is far from a classic blues tune, as the guitars still carry the heavy edge. Overall, it sounds very close to the early music of Raymond Watts (creator of the band PIG and off-and-on member of KMFDM). A very fun, very 'cool' piece to listen to.

Waidmanns Heil - The beginning sounds like the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, but that flame is quickly snuffed out by a racing metal beat. In fact, the name of the song is translated as what hunters said to each other in the olden days to wish them luck in their game. And a hunt/chase song is very close to what it sounds like.

Wiener Blut - The sequel to the hit song (and a personal favorite) 'Mein Teil'… Lyrically, anyways. The song starts out with the sound of chopping something on a cutting board, and escalates to thrash metal. I would not have a problem if this was a stand-alone song, but this is in no way a true sequel to one of the most powerful and disturbing metal songs of all time. Mein Teil starts off with (what I would call) "the sound of blind hate and rage" and it leads into one of the most chilling and audibly disturbing songs outside of Silent Hill. Sadly, the sequel is never as good as the original.


"Mein Teil"

Pussy - "You've got a pussy, I've got a dick-ah. So what's the problem? Let's do it quick."
"So take me now before it's too late. Life's to short so I can't wait. Take me now, oh don't you see, I can't get laid in Germany."
… What else can be said about the song that has such ridiculously bad English lyrics and whose music video is basically a 3 minute porno? Hearing Till sing in English is so incredibly jarring, far worse than "Stripped" on the Sehnsucht album, and the lyrics only make the whole song feel so ethereal, that you end up listening to it repeatedly to see if you actually heard what you thought you heard. To be honest, the music behind the lyrics is upbeat and fun by itself, with the toy-like techno-industrial synthesizer taking precedence over the guitars. I have a feeling that Flake really had fun with this song. Not a horrible song, not bad in fact, but not Rammstein.

"Pussy" (Censored Version)

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DU! DU HAST! DU HAST MICH!!

It's kinda sad that the only really popular song by Rammstein is "Du Hast" when they really have a lot of good music in their discography.

I haven't been a fan of Rammstein since Du Hast was popular and I was not a big fan then either. But the new album looks interesting but I will wait until they have a new music video. Not Pussy.

I like their music but I'm not a hard core fan. The review will determine if I bother with downloading, I mean listening to the album.

most music is worth downloading, and very few are worth owning. this CD would be worth the downloading.

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HERETIC!!

... But I agree with you. However, if I like a band I do try to support them by buying their CDs, and Rammstein has yet to really 'disappoint me' with a weak album.

I'm an audiophile and I'm gonna wait and see what LaughingMan's thoughts on the new Rammstien album are before I sink $15 into it. After 'pussy' I am leery about buying it.

Are there any tracks that would be good to play as background music in a game like Fallout 3?

Rammleid isn't too bad so far, but for Fallout 3 I'd stick with the albums Sehnsucht or Mutter.

I'll wrap up my review before the weekend.