Review Summary: With this dark and unsettling album, OOMPH! created the best album of their career.
Well, it's OOMPH!, so, what do you normally expect? Now in this day and age it's normally rock with some industrial influences. But back then, when they were still unpopular, they were heavy. And I mean heavy when I say it. This album is heavy in the music and in the lyrics. But, let's see what we get here.
This album contains really heavy riffs. I mean, they are literally everywhere! Check out "Born-Praised-Kissed", "Wunschkind" or "Krüppel" to see what I mean. As a company for the guitars, we have synths. They are very dark, sometimes atmospheric and in very special sequences even danceable. This doesn't mean that this album is something to dance to. It starts off all innocent with a music box which gets replaced by a heavier than hell guitar and closes with a creepy story about getting older. This mood is carried through the whole album. There are two instrumentals on this album, and you can at the first listen tell what they are about. "Wälsungenblut" uses a didgeridoo and choirs, "Filthy Playground" a sad piano, which also adds to the overall mood of being abused by older people.
Which leads directly to the lyrics. The whole album is about being abused as a child. I don't really want to tell you about the lyrics in the single songs, but there is one track, that really caught my eye. I'm talking about "Krüppel". This song features Dero almost growling about being a cripple and being attacked by other people. To be more specific, being kicked at with a big boot. This song is a real punch in the stomach. I mean, OOMPH! was known for really heavy lyrics back then, but this has topped it all. And with the accompanying music which gets more distorted over the course of this song, you even feel like being kicked and punched at. It's a really emotional song after all, if you look over the lyrics and the music and that makes the song that special.
To make a long story short: Wunschkind is a dark and unsettling album that even has the potential of haunting you in your sleep. It's emotional, sad and angry. And isn't this what an industrial metal album is about? Being emotional and unsettling?
Final point breakdown:
Music: 5/5
Lyrics: 4/5
Atmosphere: 5/5
Final score: 5/5
This album is a classic of german industrial metal. It was a major influence on bands like Rammstein, Megaherz and some of Joachim Witt's newer stuff. But beware, if you are not a big fan of industrial flavored metal, this isn't anything for you.
