Spieluhr (Rammstein) (LP 3597 - 3601)

Rammstein  Mutter (CD, Motor Records, 2001) ****  

Rammstein  Reise, Reise (CD, Universal Records, 2004) ***  

Rammstein  Rosenrot (CD, Universal Records, 2005) ***  

Rammstein  Liebe ist für alle da (CD, Universal Records, 2009) ****  

Rammstein  Völkerball (CD and DVD, Universal Records, 2006) ****  

Genre: Heavy metal, Prog metal

Places I remember: The Warehouse, Real Groovy Records, JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Adios (Mutter)

Gear costume: Wiener Blut (Liebe ist für alle da); Du Hast (Völkerball) on YouTube.

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5

Active compensatory factors: I've written about a few of their albums so far - Herzeleid, Live Aus Berlin, and Sehnsucht. We now pick up the story with their third studio album - Mutter. Quality dial remains on high for this album. You pretty much know what you're going to get with Rammstein and Mutter doesn't disappoint in the slightest. I have no idea what they are singing about and I don't care to find out especially.

Reise, Reise tried to vary the formula a bit, but introducing a girl chorus isn't a great move and Amerika with some English lyrics is a low point from my pov.

Rosenrot was a bit better, in that its experimentation worked more amid the usual Rammstein moves. Even though they verge on Nightwish style prog on a couple of tracks, I tend to play this album as much as I do their first three. 

By this stage I tended to buy Rammstein albums automatically on release. They are great albums for car journeys because Jacky likes them!

Liebe ist für alle da was next and it was a major return to form. They mean it maan (again). This time the beats are more urgent, harder hitting, and more melodic. It became their bestselling album in many areas, even America!

Völkerball is the second live album I have by Rammstein. It's a lavish CD and DVD package (like Live Aus Berlin). They are a very visual band and they put on a real performance, so the DVD component is very welcome. This show was recorded during their 2005 world tour.

The band members have remained unchanged since 1994, so these guys know what they are about. Live is Rammstein in their element. The peaks and highlights are many as they make show! And they do a mighty version of Du Hast!

Where do they all belong? That's it for this band - a lot of metal there I know, and yet - I haven't kept up to date since Völkerball. That means a couple of albums to look out for: Untitled album (2019) and Zeit (2022). 

Engel (Rammstein) (LP 166)

Rammstein Live Aus Berlin (CD - Universal, 1999) **** (***** for the DVD version)

Genre:  German pop/rock

Places I remember: The Warehouse (Cambridge)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Engel (sadly, the Berlin version not available)




Gear costume:  Du Hast, Asche zu Asche, Rammstein

Active compensatory factors: Brutal. But not humourless. There is no better place to start if you have never experienced the joy of listening to Rammstein.

Utterly captivating - the DVD of this concert trumps the CD/Record. The malevolent robot cartoon concept is breathtaking in its execution. It's impossible to turn away for even a second.

Go view it now and turn your hifi stereo support system up to 11!!    

Where do they all belong? Next up - the boys head back to the studio with Mutter

Du Hast (Rammstein) (LP 109)

Rammstein Sehnsucht (CD - Motor Music, 1997) ****

Genre: German pop/ rock

Places I remember: Real Groovy, Auckland

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Du Hast




Gear costume: Sehnsucht, Engel

Active compensatory factors: Du Hast on the live album clued me in to this earlier album. It's a beast of a song live and great on this album as well.

The industrial-metal tag is appropriate for this album - from the cover portraits to the use of Flake's keyboards that are playful at times, ominous at others - all coming together via superb production by Jacob Hellner.

It's one great song after another! And the fact that the band use German lyrics just adds to the whole mystery.

Where do they all belong? This is positioned just before the breakthrough Live Aus Berlin album.

Rammstein (Rammstein) (LP 84)

Rammstein Herzeleid (CD - Motor Music, 1995) ****

Genre: German rock

Places I remember: Keegan's bedroom is where I heard this music for the first time, and then I got the CD from the Warehouse in Cambridge

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Asche Zu Asche is catchy as all get out.




Gear costume: Wollt... is a great opener for their debut album, and Rammstein a perfect closer.

Active compensatory factors: My eldest son played a lot of Rammstein in his bedroom when he was growing up. It sounded vaguely threatening - all those German gutturals and the Giger visuals but in reality, after I heard enough to be impressed, I found that Rammstein provide the perfect driving music. 

Propulsive, explosive, it's great to nod along as I drive with this on maximum volume.

Not sure what they were going for with the cover - doesn't scream brilliant German heavy metal to me, and the other weird thing about this music - Jacky loves it, too.

Where do they all belong? I'd recommend the Live in Berlin set next - the video version is especially spectacular.

F---- you, I won’t do what you tell me

15 Rage Against The Machine, ‘Killing In The Name’; 16 Rammstein, ‘Asche Zu Asche’; 17 Avenged Sevenfold, ‘Almost Easy’.

I’m not insane, I’m not insane, I’m not insane! So says M Shadows, vocalist for Avenged Sevenfold. I’m not – and I love these three songs. Energy? Dialled up to 11! Attitude? Of yeah – see the post’s title. Repetition? Sure – repeat with me -now you do what they taught ya!! Loud? Eh? Each of these uses all these tried and true rockist features in new ways. In short, they rock like motorfingers!

Every once and a while I need to blow out the cobwebs with something obnoxious and there we go. The fact that I (either as teacher or authority figure or whatever) am often the target of the rage makes it all the more deliciously ironic. Isn’t it amazing, too, how quickly, what you thought was a threat to common good and decency is soon supplanted by something else.

The Sex Pistols and The Clash were evil incarnate to many in the late 1970s. Pretty tame now huh. The first Rage Against The Machine album was Mr Angry – not for nothing did The Matrix use the Rage’s Wake Up over their title credits, but Zach and his mates couldn’t sustain that for long and by album three they were raging against radio! Rammstein’s first few albums were dark and potentially alienating to my generation. But the fact they sang in their native German became less shocking with time. Compare their genuinely scarey Live in Berlin DVD with Volkerball and it’s obvious they’ve become more obviously cartoon-like with time. Now we have a new breed, as is the way.

I like listening to bands like Rammstein and The Lost Prophets for all of the usual reasons – they write catchy songs with power, youthful enthusiasm and total commitment, pounding rhythms and REALLY LOUD GUITARS. Isn’t that why we’ve always liked rebel music/ rock ‘n’ roll/ rock/ heavy metal – call it what you will?

Bring on the noise!