Take
one part Mahler and another part Rob Zombie and inject a healthy dose
of German pride and you’ve got cutting-edge, Euro death-rocker
Rammstein. Rammstein broke through with their MTV hit "Du Hast" two
years ago and are back with a hard hitting Deutschland rock record with
delusions of grandeur and musical overtures that are reminiscent of Bob
Geldof’s Pink character’s Cult of Personality scenes towards the end of
the feature film The Wall.
Make no mistake, Rammstein is a nouveau heavy metal band with lots of
production polish. Refreshingly, they skip the oh-so-popular temptation
to employ seven-string guitars and primal screaming. Rammstein keeps
their tunes way clean, as they are one seriously tight band. I’d like
to see Rammstein vs. Metallica in a battle of the bands. Rammstein is
so much more edgy and hard-hitting that I think they could take the
aging rockers from San Francisco with their pure-bred power.
Musically, Mutter is gives you a lot to sink your teeth (or ears) into.
"Ich Will" shows the band working the dynamic window in a way that
enables them to go from subtle string arrangements to crowds of a 1000
chanting with the growl of tightly distorted guitars, eerie ghost-like
sounds and other sonic oddities dancing in the mix. The intro cut "Mein
Herz Brennt" is a huge production with everything from acoustic guitars
to gigantic orchestral string sections. The chorus, while seemingly
very angry (god only knows what the heck these guys are saying) is
catchy and well-timed, despite the harshness of the Germanic language.
The most Rob Zombie moment on Mutter is Track 8, "Zwitter.". The guitar
riff is bright-sounding and like a fuse burning down to a bomb ready to
explode. Once again, the use of keyboards adds to the complex
production that makes Mutter more than just some candy-ass Glam band –
these guys are the real deal. My favorite track on Mutter is "Adios,"
which would be the tune that I would pick to sound more like Metallica
than the real Metallica does at this point. The guitar riff that the
tune builds up to is incendiary, leading to a most definite mosh
insanity at a live show. The tempo is nothing short of breakneck and
the tune never really relents. The other killer on Mutter is "Feuer
Frei!" and insane jam that absolutely explodes into a free-for-all of
German metal goodness. I am not sure what they are talking about is
good (or bad), but the tune is downright evil-sounding and pushes the
limits of my Wilson WATT Puppy loudspeakers and my Revel and/or Sunfire
subwoofers to their limits.
Mutter is more than a creative new rock record. It is recorded
exceedingly well, considering its genre and the other similar records
currently on record store shelves. Ramstein’s use of orchestral
arrangements is not new but it is rare when it is used with such
convincing results. I will warn you that this record is sung completely
in German, which makes for some awkward vocal moments. Ramstein can get
downright silly from time to time, as the record does not possess the
cool factor of Rob Zombie. With that said, Mutter is likely to be the
heavy record of the year. Fire it up in your car and take out your road
rage while phonetically singing the angry lyrics of Rammstein.
Like this article? Bookmark and share with any of the sites below.