Rammstein - Reise, Reise - What a journey! (Reise, Reise - Rammstein)

Member Name: monkeywarrior

Product:	Reise, Reise - Rammstein
Date:	07/03/05 (2255 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Spectacular comeback, Few weak tracks, Powerful, addictive music

Disadvantages: A little short?, Some may find elements offensive.

WHAT IS RAMMSTEIN??

First, I guess I'd better explain the craziness that is the band Rammstein. What genre do they fall into? I’d say its somewhere along the lines of Heavy German Electro Cyber Gothic Techno Melodic Metal… If that doesn’t immediately appeal to you then chances are you may not enjoy this CD, but everyone should hear it at least once!

Rammstein consist of 6 members, Till (vocals), Richard (Guitar), Paul (Guitar), Oliver (Bass), Christoph (Drums) and Flake (pronounced Flar-kuh, on Keyboards/Electronics). They’ve been around since the early ‘90s and their unique sound has gained them thousands of die-hard fans across the world (including me!). Pair this with their incredible live show and they’re actually one of the hottest bands you’ve never heard of.

Reise, Reise is their fourth full-length studio album, and has been several years in the making. It was worth the wait…

THE CD

Reise, reise is a new release so there’s little chance of finding it at a bargain price. The best deal I found was on Amazon.co.uk where it’s available for just £8.99. I believe it’s also available at this price on CD-wow. The front cover is designed to look like a Flight Data Recorder, a theme which is continued throughout the packaging and indeed the CD. The booklet has all the lyrics as usual with backgrounds of plane wreckage. It’s a fairly minimalist design really, with no pictures of the band or anything, but it works well.

THE SONGS

1) REISE, REISE - The title track gets the album off to a superb start. This track is actually a reprise to the song ‘Seemann’ from the first album. It’s instantly haunting and recognisable as Rammstein, fairly slow and melodic with a very powerful chorus. It reminds me a little of the similarly powerful ‘Mein Herz Brennt’ which starts off the album previous to this. Watch out for the beautiful instrumental section about halfway through. Fantastic stuff, 9/10.

2) MEIN TEIL - The first single from the album, as featured on the OST for Resident Evil: Apocalypse. You really don't want to know what this song is about! No, seriously... It's a very heavy and aggressive song, lots of guitars and Till using a peculiar sort of whispering voice during some of the verses. I didn't really like this to begin with but it really grew on me, and I can see it being amazing live. 8/10.

3) DALAI LAMA - A rather peculiar one, this. Again I didn't like it at first and although it is growing on me I still think it's one of the weaker tracks. It's quite an emotional song about a plane crash (I should point out that Rammstein sing in German so you might not spot this without English translations!) and I would imagine is actually rather good if you can understand German! Musically, however, I find it a little repetitive. 6/10.

4) KEINE LUST - One of my favourite tracks, full of extremely fast and powerful guitar riffs, this is really one to jump around to! Fantastic lyrics too, all about things which Till has 'no desire' to do :o) Top class Rammstein here, 9/10.

5) LOS - Hmm, not sure about this one. Very repetitive and also sounds a bit too similar to a track from the first album 'Herzeleid'. Almost has a country element to it! Peculiar, and listenable enough, but probably the weakest track on the album for me. 4/10.

6) AMERIKA - This is the track you're most likely to have heard, being the most recent single release and fairly mainstream in terms of it's sound and content. It's a song about how 'we all live in America' but as Till states (just before an awesome guitar solo) 'this is not a love song'. The chorus can get slightly repetitive but the verses are great and the 'break' into the chorus is always satisfying! Perhaps a bit too 'mainstream' for die-hard R+ fans but still a great song. 8/10.

7) MOSKAU - This track really is a showcase of Rammstein's unique approach to music, with around half of the song sung by a female vocalist in Russian, the other half by Till in German. A fast and bouncy song, with powerful guitars, and the two vocalists work perfectly together. 8/10.

8) MORGENSTERN - Plenty of orchestral parts in this song, and whilst it's very good there's just something about it that doesn't really seem to 'gel' as well as the other tracks. 7/10.

9) STEIN UM STEIN - This song starts off very quietly, and tricked me into thinking it was going to be a ballad before breaking into a wonderfully aggressive chorus. From what I can make out, it's a song about Till feeling 'trapped' in an unfulfilling relationship. Great contrasts here between the quiet verses and explosive chorus. 8/10.

10) OHNE DICH - When I first heard that this song was going to be on the CD, I was delighted. The original Ohne Dich was a song by another German metal band called Megaherz and is one of my favourites. It was often mistaken for Rammstein, so much so that Rammstein eventually made this version. Sadly, it bears no resemblance to the Megaherz version and is instead a slow and fairly uninspiring ballad. Still, it adds yet more variety to this excellent CD. This will also be the next single. 6/10.

11) AMOUR - Definitely the standout track on the album for me. I knew this was going to be something special just from the first 10 seconds. It's one of those songs that makes you tingle... It's a real feel-good song, and the tune just fits together so perfectly, all of the varied elements coming together to make the perfect song. A beautiful, haunting track, and one of my favourite R+ tracks ever. 10/10.

THE SECRET TRACK

I should also mention a little secret about the CD. If you rewind past the beginning of track 1 (into negative time) to around -0.35 then play, you will hear what sounds disturbingly like a genuine cockpit voice recorder of a flight going down.

You can hear the sounds of the plane's 'Pull Up! Whoop Whoop' alarms and the shouts of the pilots as they try to solve the problem, which cut out suddenly at the end. It sounds very real indeed, however I am yet to be convinced - I mean, if Rammstein went to whoever has the authority to allow use of these recordings and said can we use this in the name of entertainment, surely the answer would be no?

Some people think it may be the CVR from a German charter flight that went down in 1997 killing all on board. The CD does follow the theme of plane crashes what with the data recorder packaging, the song Dalai Lama (the Dalai Lama was known to have a fear of flying) - and Rammstein's name comes from a place in Germany where there was fatal airshow crash. Yet somehow I feel the CVR on the beginning is taking things a little too far if it is real.

Still, Rammstein are no strangers to controversy, with frequent use of provocative lyrics and uproar over their use of a picture of a dead foetus on the packaging of their 3rd album 'Mutter'. I guess it comes with the territory of such a unique band.

I LOVED IT, WHAT NEXT?!

Rammstein's other albums are equally superb. Herzeleid, Sehnsucht and Mutter all have very strong tracks and you can really notice a lot of influence from these CDs on the tracks on this album. Don't hesitate to buy all of these, you won't be disappointed. There is also a live album/DVD titled Live Aus Berlin and a DVD of their videos titled Lichtspielhaus.

Rammstein's live show is world famous for its fantastic stage show including pyrotechnics of all shapes and sizes and many other spectacular effects - do NOT miss the show if you get a chance to see it, I guarantee you will remember it forever. I had the fantastic privelege of seeing their most recent tour a few weeks ago, and boy what a show. I won't spoil anything but needless to say it was (almost) as good as the last time I saw them - and this time my expectations were set far higher!

Other great German metal bands are Megaherz and Herzer, and if you like this sorta thing but prefer it in English, I'd recommend 16 Volt's Supercoolnothing v2, Killswitch Engage, Lacuna Coil and Apartment 26.

CONCLUSION

I'm always kinda nervous when buying the new album of a band a really like for fear of it being rubbish. Thankfully, I was very pleasantly surprised by this CD which not only continues Rammstein's legacy of awesome albums but is also one of the best yet! Intrigued? Check it out, you won't be disappointed.

Thanks for reading, Tom.

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