With its sixth studio album, Liebe Ist Für Alle Da,
Berlin’s Rammstein once again delves into a morbid sonic realm of
disaffection, chaos and torture with 11 industrial-metal tracks. The
lyrics are in German, thank God, so you can’t understand what sadistic
acts vocalist Till Lindemann plans on inflicting upon female anatomy.
Packaged with a multi-panel “story” courtesy of painter Eugenio
Recuenco, Liebe lingers on suggestive images of pornographic
horror, which presumably marks a new direction for Rammstein, who, in
the past, have been more consistent than peers like Ministry and
Marilyn Manson.
This time, not so much, really. “Pussy” sounds like warmed-over
Manson, a fact not even a soft-core porn video by noted director Jonas
Åkerlund can mask, especially with its conventional rock format
and goth-pop melody. The quiet-loud-quiet formula of “Wiener Blut”
feels weak compared to what Rammstein achieved with its earlier,
more-raw ’90s releases like Sehnsucht. With any roughness
polished off by longtime producer Jacob Hellner, there’s not much that
grabs you by the gut.
It all seems rote until the gorgeous acoustic-guitar intro to
“Frühling in Paris,” a ballad that gradually evolves into a
soaring stadium anthem worthy of a halftime show during a World Cup
soccer match. It’s unlike anything Rammstein has ever done, suggesting
there are new vistas ahead for this underrated and very aggressive
industrial-metal act.
This article appears in Nov 26 – Dec 2, 2009.