Rammstein has always been known for their strange, yet catchy music. Thundering drum beats and explosive guitars, creepy vocals and catchy techno riffs. Their songs were always fun to jump up and down to at parties, and yet had a lot of meaning to the lyrics (if you understood German). Rammstein seemed to lose that sound with the release of Reise, Reise, showing a more serious side to the German rockers. With the release of Rosenrot, their old sound seems to have returned somewhat. The album is more fun than Reise, Reise was, and kind of cheesey in some places. Rosenrot was released as a B-side album containing a few songs that didn't make it onto Reise, Reise and some other songs that were written for it.
The album starts off with Benzin. Benzin is a song that any big Rammstein fan should already know if they don't already have the album. It's a typical Rammstein song with the techno in the beginning followed by a thundering beat and loud guitars. Though that may sound great, it isn't what it seems. The guitar riff is boring and not catchy at all and the techno basically consists of some subtle keyboard notes. Nothing special at all. The song basically repeats itself until the end.
The next song, Mann Gegen Mann, is where the album starts sounding how it should. It starts off with a drum beat and a bass riff. Till sings for a bit and then the song explodes into the catchy chorus riff. After one more verse we have the extremely catchy chorus where Till yells, "MANN GEGEN MANN" and utters some other German that I don't understand. I think the song is about gay people..
Next up is the title track, Rosenrot. It starts off with a simple bass riff and a bass drum. Then the vocals kick in and simply leads into the chorus. The guitar riff is basically the bass riff, but distorted. This goes on again until we get to the short breakdown part using guitar riffs that sound a lot like Stein um Stein off of Reise, Reise. The instrumental definitely isn't the strong point of the song, but the vocals are very well done. It sounds like more of a ballad than the first two tracks do. After another verse/chorus/bridge the song ends.After Rosenrot, the CD throws Spring at us.
Spring is a slow song. It starts off with some eerie keyboards and leads into some heavy palm muting. The song to me is a boring filler track because it is pretty much the same thing all the way through. Apparently it is more lyrically driven than musically, which isn't good since I don't know German.
Move on..Wo Bist Du is one of the song titles that was thrown around a lot during the tracklist arguments. It starts out with a cheesey sounding keyboard riff and literally explodes into a loud guitar riff. Scared me out of my seat the first time I listened. After this part, the song leads into the verse. Probably the best verse part on the album yet, it has a keyboard riff playing over a signature Rammstein drum beat and some bass in the background. The chorus consists of the opening guitar part and some AWFUL vocals. Next we have another short verse part that leads into a pre-chorus with the same guitar as the chorus, but with louder keyboards. This (of course) leads into the chorus which plays on until the song ends. Dispite the terrible vocals during the chorus, the song's instrumental, though simple, holds it together for me.
Next we have the absolutely terrible Stirb Nicht Vor Mir. The song starts off with an upbeat, clean picking riff that leads into another upbeat acoustic part. That's pretty nice, the acoustics are very well done. Till's singing part is very well done too. But after his part is over, the whole song just dies. The female singer, Sharleen Spiteri, sings an English part that makes the whole song sound like part of a Disney soundtrack. The horrible duet part lasts until the song FINALLY ends. This song would have been an incredible song if it was Till and mabye a different singer with a German part. Supposedly they will release another version with a German female instead. But for now, this song is abysmal.
Moving on, we have our first gem of the album. Zerstören starts off with a weird electronic vocal part and some cool drumming which leads into a thundering guitar part. After that ends, we have a palm muting part which is what our verse consists of along with the cool drum part. Then it leads into the chorus which consists of the main guitar riff and keyboards. This repeats again until a keyboard part takes over the chorus and leads the song into it's bridge. The bridge consists of rung out guitars and Doom beating on the drums. After another chorus, the band goes absolutely crazy on their instruments and that leads into a very quiet keyboard part with Till singing quietly. After a little bit more, the song ends on that part. Excellent song, probably the album's best part.
Hilf Mir is one of those filler tracks that just gets you to the next song. But it isn't completely bad.. The song starts off with a palm muted part that leads into a slower, heavy part. That slower, heavy part leads into the slow verse. The verse consists of a quiet bass riff being played under a quiet keyboard part and Till's singing. This blows up into loud guitars for a bit which leads into the chorus which uses the main riff and then back into the verse. The song repeats itself and leads back into the chorus in the same way. After another chorus, we have an airy bridge part which leads into the painfully simple breakdown. One more chorus and then we're done!
Te Quiero Puta! is the weirdest song on the album. Period. It starts off with what sounds like a trotting horse and a Mexican guy saying "Mmm, Amigos!". Then the song brings in Mexican TRUMPETS. The weird trumpet part explodes into a signature Rammstein guitar riff. Blah blah, then we have the verse which consists of the bass and the drums. After each line, the trumpets flare up. Then we have a short pre chorus part which leads into the main riff and Till yelling "TE QUIERO PUTA!". Next up we have a VERY strange bridge. We have a weird sounding Spanish woman rhyming "Mas mas mas, por favor. Mas mas mas, si si seńor". After that we have another chorus and then a loud ending.
The next song is, in my opinion, one of the better songs on the album. Feuer und Wasser starts off with a quiet clean guitar and Till. This lasts for about two minutes before we have the main riff kick in. The main riff is basically repeated over the chorus, which is pretty well done. Till's voice stands out very nicely on this song. The verse consists of the clean guitar playing behind short bursts of distortion. After this part we have a short keyboard solo part with the main riff behind it which leads into another chorus. After the chorus is repeated twice the song simply plays the main riff until it finally decides to end.
The album's closing is a very pleasant, clean song. No distortion is used throughout the whole song. The guitar part is a very soft picking riff which is played throughout the whole song. Till sings very nicely throughout the song, no short outbursts of yelling in this one. The song basically is the same thing all the way through. It's, in my opinion, an excellent closing to a mediocre album.
Pros: Zerstören, vocals are pretty well done on most tracks, good album length (for today's standards).
Cons: The guitars sound like they were recorded on a blender, Stirb Nicht Vor Mir
Recommended Tracks: Zerstören, Te Quiero Puta, Mann Gegen Mann, Feuer und Wasser
Track Ratings:
1. Benzin: 2.5/5
2. Mann Gegen Mann: 4/5
3. Rosenrot: 4/5
4. Spring: 2.5/5
5. Wo Bist Du: 3/5
6. Stirb Nicht Vor Mir: 1/5
7. Zerstören: 4.5/5
8. Hilf Mir: 3.5/5
9. Te Quiero Puta!: 3/5
10. Feuer und Wasser: 4/5
11. Ein Lied: 4/5
Final Score: 3/5
