Rammstein - Mutter

Label: Motor Music
Catologue Number: 549639-2
Format: CD
Date: 2001
Style: Industrial/ Metal
Rating: 6/10
Reviewer: Sidney James

Nothing like a bit of controversy is there? Well Rammstein have caused a great deal within their musical journey. Accused of being Nazis (which the band has always denied), staging shows full of stimulated sex and pyrotechnics and selling a neat 4 million albums in the good ol’ USA . Not bad for a band that sings in German and produce music that makes that other so called heavy bands sound like a fart lost in a hurricane.

So after the triumph of the kinky sex ridden Sehnsucht the German Industrial ubermensch decide to release a concept album based around the Oedipus complex called Mutter and no this doesn’t mean Rammstein have suddenly turned into a prog rock band. Instead we get an album that continues Rammstein’s Panzer like conquest of the Industrial rock scene.

Like it’s processors Mutter is an album that heavily borrows form earlier (and far less successful ) German Industrial bands like Die Krupps and Oomph! However unoriginal Rammstein maybe they still manage to both get away with obvious plagiarisms and produce something that is uniquely Rammstein. In fact it could be said that Rammstein are the German Oasis, instead of a rewriting of The Beatles and Slade back catalogue we get a reconstruct of the bands who pioneered the German Industrial scene. Like Oasis, Rammstein manage to blatantly steal too create something new and exciting out of the wreckage.

Mutter begins with a strong indication of Rammstein’s purpose and direction with the track Mein Herz Brennt . After a short spoken intro dominated by the low rumbling voice of lead singer Til Lindemann, the song kicks in with heavy grinding bass and a strong 4/4 rhythm . This builds to a chorus dominated by low end guitar riffs and eastern sounding strings. Tills vocals perfectly matching the thundering drums and pulsating electronic bass.

Next up we have Links 234 a song that shows Rammstein at their most direct and corrosive. Following a short intro of a sampled rally, the song erupts into life with fast paced heavy guitars and Til’s low Teutonic vocals. Subtle Wagnerian choral samples are added in the background (recalling Oomph’s Ice Coffin) adding a more complex liar to the track. Imagine Metallica strip of all superfluous guitar work whilst jamming with Beethoven and your halfway there.

The next song Sonne was the first single off the album and has a video that must be seen (A Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs scenario) It begins with a count to ten in German before the heavy guitar riffs crash in again . Again we have the presence of sampled voices in the background, this time a beautiful drifting female vocal. The song again builds towards a strong chorus as all the elements in the song rise to the occasion.

What is it with German bands and the words Ich Will, I must have at least 3 albums with a song which feature these words in the title, and Rammstein make it one more. The song itself is perhaps the strongest on the album and sees Rammstein finally producing a truly original song. The track is dominated by a strong techno pulse that leads the song as the grinding guitars and the choral samples build themselves around the throbbing electronic rhythm.

There is always one problem that I face when attempting to review German bands and that is my German is extremely poor, so when in the middle of Feuer Frei I hear Til sing ’Bang Bang’ I can’t but help chuckle to myself. For some reason I keep thinking of dodgy Eurovision songs, even though the electronic sweeps and speeding guitars make the song sound like the only prize it’s going to win will be plucked deep from the burning embers of Hell.

If Feuer Frei makes me think about Satan’s Eurovision entry then the title track Mutter has a even stranger effect on me. It makes be fill like I’m trapped in a soft rock gig. Why? Because the song is a completely overblown epic , laced with cheesy guitar solos and overwrought keyboards. Mutter may have been Rammstein’s centre piece to the album but comes over as an Industrialised 80’s power ballad.

After the misadventure of Mutter, Rammstein soon hit form again with the Speilhur. The track begins with a nursery rhyme like keyboard riff, before guitars bounce over a undulating techno rhythm and a pulsating low end bass. Child like voices appear at the chorus creating an unsettling feel to the song which is helped by the return of the opening keyboard refrain towards the end of the track.

The next couple of tracks Zwitter and Rein Rous follow the Rammstein formula of heavy riffing, strong drums and choral samples but don’t really add anything to the whole overall formula. Both songs neither fail or really leave a lasting impression. More filler than succulent morsels.

However the final tracks Adios and Nebel prove that Rammstein are capable of pulling the add trick out of the hat. Adios begins with a gentle acoustic guitar and piano intro before a guitar riff that Motorhead could call their own takes over. Add to this same vocal sample as use in the Happy Monday’s Hallelujah and a strange brew is indeed created. Nebel on the other hand is a slow lament build around shimmering electronics and stunningly beautiful strings that prove that even when Rammstein hold back the reins they are able of producing music of power.

Mutter may put many people off because of the German lyrics and the alien nature of the music to the average listener. But given a few listens there is a lot of subtlety and beauty amongst the harsh Germanic beats and guitars. It will defiantly appeal to any one who likes their music powerful and weighty but at the same time acts a perfect Teutonic to the mass of Rap rock that it cluttering up the charts and the alternative dance floors.