Rammstein Return with Knockout Selftitled Seventh Album

Review By Tiffany Linton

Rammstein is a six-piece German hard rock band originating from Berlin, Germany. The group consists of frontman Till Lindemann, guitarists Richard Z. Kruspe and Paul Landers, Oliver Riedel on bass, Christian “Flake” Lorenz on keyboards and rounding out the bunch is Christoph “Doom” Schneider on drums.

Known for their no-restraints music including Du Hast, Feuer Frei!, and Amerika, the group is not afraid to express themselves in any way to get the message across. Personally, I have Ich Tu Dir Weh and Mein Herz Brennt on my daily rock playlist. I highly respect this incredible group of musicians for sticking to their “guns” and stayed true to their own brand for over 20 years. Not to forget, I traveled all the way to the middle of Canada from North Carolina to catch them at Montebello Rockfest in 2017.

The boys hopped back in the studio in 2017, after a short tour run in the United States and Canada, and began working on their first full-length, self titled album since the release of Liebe ist für alle da in 2009. After this long absence, cryptic Instagram and Twitter posts began surfacing and the bomb officially dropped, figuratively speaking of course, with the first release since Ramm4 — called Deutschland.

Deutschland is the epitome of a true Rammstein song- nice to hear Kruspe in more of a singing/harmonic fashion since the Emigrate days. The provocative video that accompanies the track showcases different aspects of German culture both in tasteful and controversial ways. If you blink you’d miss quite a bit but the video is definitely worth watching.

The current single Radio which has also been released with a video that is a bit strange when you initially watch it. When you go and translate the lyrics it actually makes a bit more sense. They lyrics (loosely translated of course) depict having the “radio” as a means of escape from the normal world. It is extremely catchy. When I first heard it on Octane I immediately got hooked on the chorus. I also feel like this was an intentional song. When I say intentional, they made Radio for the radio if that makes sense.

Not sure if I remember a song that has such an intro such as Zeig Dich – catholic sounding choir in the middle mixed with punk-ish sounding guitars. If you listen closely you may hear a bit of a System of a Down reference in the breakdown area. It’s pretty rad if you ask me. Kind of interesting to hear a punk element mixed in with the German dark rock sound. The soft piano brings out the more intricate side to the song that adds a refreshing touch.

Auslander is what you could call Rammstein’s techno hype song on the album. You could definitely hear this being played in an underground club in the streets of Hamburg. It is kind of appropriate since it is a one night stand song when you read the lyrics in english.

I am not going to go super in depth with following two tracks, Sex and Was Ich Liebe. One.. well you can guess which one is the captain obvious theme behind it. The other was a bit lackluster compared to other tracks on the album. It seemed too much like a German My Chemical Romance attempt.

Diamant lyrically and musically the song sounds like a love song. But if you read into the words of the track a bit closer it’s as if Till is singing about a woman with heartless tendencies. Once again loosely translated, “Like a jewel, so clear and clean, Your fine light was my whole being, Wanted to hold you in my heart, But what cannot love, must hate” just sounds sad. So maybe its not so lovey, dovey after all?

The more and more I listen to this album… the more I realize that the guys have sort of matured lyrically. Don’t get me wrong, there are still those songs on the album with the raunch, unapologetic, and uncensored ways that they are known for, but surprisingly there are more radio friendly tracks than I was expecting. Weit Weg one is a prime example of that. Lyrically it has the ability to be played pretty much anywhere and not have a single side eye given to it.

If you are a diehard Rammstein fan you’ve probably watched a live video or two on YouTube a few hundred of times, its okay you can admit it, I have too. Tattoo should be a bit nostalgic for you then. The song is absolutely “thigh slapping” good for those super fans.

Rounding out the album has to be my number second favorite track on the entire album and once again, I have a habit of picking the ones with the weird translations. Hallomann is really creepy lyrically. Sometimes German to English translations don’t always come out the way they should so take the opinion with a grain of salt. Aside from the lyrics, the song on a composition stand point could stand on its own as a single.

I am absolutely excited and giddy as a schoolgirl that this album is finally coming out. It has been a whole decade since the guys of Rammstein have released a full album. There are no current rumblings about any tours or shows from the group as of yet but we can all hope and keep our fingers crossed for that.Rammstein’s self titled album drops on 5/17 world-wide and is available on all platforms. Make sure you swing over to their YouTube and check out the videos for Deutschland and Radio as well as stay tuned for any new updates from the group at www.rammstein.de