Review Summary: After nearly 5 years of being at breaking point, the German Metallers return in characteristically brutal fashion...
Let's get one thing straight. Rammstein don't care what we or anyone think of them. So whether I acclaimed or ridiculed this album, it wouldn’t even remotely damage the band’s reputation. They are a band who are surrounded by so much constoversy, so much infamy, that it would take more than a bad album review or two to take people’s attention away from them.
Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da comes off the back of a very turbulent time for the band. Rumour after rumour came spewing from those apparently in the know about the band being close to splitting only for Rammstein to unleash this beast of an album upon the world. The usual zany twist to the German's sound is evident, as is the expected punishingly brutal riffs and baritone groans of Till Lindemann. The band have changed somewhat since their initial 'tanz metal' days, and now have embraced the Industrial sound a lot more. This began on album Mutter, and pretty much seemed built in for Rosenrot and Reise Reise. This album only pushes the Industrial sound more and marks an important return from the key players in the German metal scene.
Rammlied opens the album on an anthemic and brutal opening, with bristling bass work and crushing chords, driven by bullet fast percussion and stop-start riffing. The musicianship of the guitars is fairly simple as with most of Rammstein's music, but it's the way such basic riffs are played that really adds the air of brutality to their sound. The barrage that is the opening riff to Ich Tu Dir Weh bludgeons the senses, and the anthemic chorus makes another classic in the Rammstein catalogue.
Despite the darker sound, though, there is still a silly and ridiculous side to the German Industrial metal titans. “Pussy” is a ludicrously silly song, but it is performed with the usual German deadpan attitude that adds to it’s value. It portrays the classic Rammstein sound but also makes use of the dark sense of humour that the band has embraced in its material. The album isn’t anything new- this variety of sound is something that was evident on the hit and miss Rosenrot album that preceded this. However, what sets this album aside is that it maintains its integrity despite the unsettled times it’s creators have been through. Songs such as “Wiener Blut” (which chronicles the terrible acts of a man named...Josef Fritzl) demonstrate the usual controversially themed material that the band are famous for, as well as the crushing riffage that the band are nearly as famous for. When it comes to sheer, unrelenting aggressive energy condensed and driven by one riff, there is no band better than Rammstein. Roter Sand is a pleasant comedown to the album, stripping away the metal and instead using a haunting whistling melody coupled with Lindemann’s vocals to great effect. It’s this ability that Rammstein possess, to create songs that completely break the mould, that place them amongst the greats of the European metal scene. Other highlights of the album are the frantic Weidmanns Heil, the punishing B*******, and most important Fruhling In Paris, which is a poetically and wonderfully harmonic example of what Rammstein can do. The gruff, deep rumble of Till Lindemann’s voice is largely non existent here, and instead he breaks into soaring melodies. It’s not power metal theatrics, but it demonstrates a softer and more emotional side to a band who are mostly known for far heavier projects.
This album is almost a perfect mix of Rammstein’s older, more raw material and their newer music, which holds in it’s hands a darkened but passionate heart.
The musicianship is as you’d expect from Rammstein- it’s effective if not particularly advanced. The guitar work is simple, with songs driven by one or two repetitive riffs, and the drumming is also fairly simple. But it’s never been about WHAT Rammstein play but HOW Rammstein play it (in this case, in drop D tuning). It is the coupling of the crushing guitars, the eerily tuned keyboards and the brooding baritone of Till Lindemann that creates the element that Rammstein have. And it is an element that, although simplistic, has never been touched upon in quite the same way by other bands of the genre. The bottom line is that it says something about a band who have the language barrier firmly facing them, and yet have refused to perform their music in anything other than their native language (forgetting the odd moment of broken English slotted in here and then).
This album is not only impressive in the variety of music it demosntrates, but how it manages to do so in a way that still makes the songs sound like Rammstein.
It seems that despite the unrest, despite the problems, Rammstein have returned once again in splendid fashion. Rumours are already milling that this could once again be their last album, but if this is the case, at least the band look unlikely to be leaving us all with disappointment.
