Now,
this has been a tough one to review. For the first time I have to say
something negative about my favourite German band, and it hurts. There
is no Rammstein release without surprises and “Rosenrot” is no
exception, only, the surprises are not all pleasant this time. There
is only one year between “Reise, Reise” and it’s follow-up, and
perhaps it would have been better to wait a while. It’s been a busy
year with lots of touring for the boys, and to release an album that
partly consists of leftovers from the last album is rarely a hit. Jawohl,
“Reise, Reise” was one of the best releases in 2004, but still, even
then a revision of the material could come in handy. I
can more or less divide “Rosenrot” into two sections: The first five
songs are right on the spot, all hit songs. The last six songs are
mediocre (one even annoying). “Benzin”,
which most of you ought to have heard by now since it’s the first
single from the album, is a typical Rammstein tune that revolves around
the theme of self-destruction. “Mann Gegen Mann”, the best song of
the album, is a heavy song about homosexuality, top class stuff, top
class riffing. The title track is full of atmosphere, a very dark piece.
“Spring” is a tragic-comic story about the power of the crowd and
our need to see others fail. “Wo Bist Du” is a cool song about a
love lost. And
then it goes wrong: “Stirb Nicht Vor Mir/Don’t Die Before Me” is
one of the most irrelevant ballads I’ve listened to in a long time,
and Sharleen Spiteri of Next
up is “Zerstören” and this is the last good song on the album,
although this is familiar stuff from Rammstein. “Hilf Mir” starts
out with a riff that is peculiarly close to the riff from that P.O.D
song….”Alive”. The tune never really amounts to anything
interesting. “Te Quiero Puta!” is Rammstein’s attempt to do
something weird (i.e. in Spanish). It is weird, no doubt. More or less
like a combination of a Daffy Duck cartoon and Brujeria. It’s fairly
annoying to lay ears to. “Feuer und Wasser” is a bit like “Hilf
Mir” – not as original as you’d expect from our German friends. Finally,
there’s “Ein Lied”, a quiet piece to end the album. Nice one, but
could easily have been cut by two minutes… As
you can see, this album is on the whole kept afloat by five or six songs
which isn’t really good enough. Too bad that the curve seems to break
for Rammstein now – possibly because someone around them think they
should hurry and get some money out of us now that they’re successful. It
is worth noting, by the way, that in terms of drumming, this is most
organic Rammstein album so far. This is less industrial and more rock. Recommended tracks: “Benzin”, Mann Gegen Mann”, “Spring” & “Wo Bist Du”. |
