Rammstein is unquestionably the most well know n band of the current German music scene, and very possibly the most well known German language in the world. Many people have been introduced to German music thanks to Rammstein, myself included, and as such they have perhaps the most polarized reaction to their music. There are some who just ‘kind of’ like Rammstein, but by and large the reaction is, to use the clichéd expression, “Love ‘em or Hate ‘em.”
Mutter is the anticipated followup to Rammstein’s major, worldwide breakthrough album, Sehnsucht. Because of Sehnsucht’s unheard of success worldwide, many people were worried that Mutter would be a bust, or that it wouldn’t live up to the expectations set by it’s popular predecessor. This worry was partially well founded, but by and large I feel that Mutter is a good successor.
First off, the sound quality on Mutter is vastly superior to Sehnsucht, and overall none of the tracks have that somewhat raw sound that was prevalent on Sehnsucht. In many ways, Mutter is also far catchier, which I will get to in a moment.
I was also very impressed by the lyrical quality of this album. I feel that Till Lindemann is one of the two best lyricists in modern German music (the other being Joachim Witt) because of his clever use of multiple meanings (see the later track Los for a great example of this wordplay) On previous releases Herzeleid and Sehnsucht, Till became known for his controversial subject matter (incest, brutality, necrophilia) and this put off many. He still writes songs that are about odd subject matter to most bands (see Zwitter, which is about a hermaphrodite) but he’s come to do this in a far less dark manner. Namely, while his songs are still often quite dark subject wise, they have become more humorous and somehow less…oppressive in tone. Starting here, Till’s songwriting has become increasingly complex and, particularly with their most recent release, Rosenrot, he has become the band’s strongest asset.
On an individual album basis, this is Rammstein’s strongest effort. Every song except Nebel could be used as a single fairly effectively, and that is no small feat. My major complaint about the album is this: As opposed to Rammstein’s other releases, Mutter feels more like a collection of singles as opposed to unified album. This is a problem, but it doesn’t detract from the listening experience dramatically, only if one sits down to listen to it while doing nothing else. And even then, if the focus can be maintained on the lyrics themselves, then this problem is lessened.
Overall, Mutter is an extremely solid album that suffers only from seeming to be more a collection of singles than an album. Till is becoming an extremely solid songwriter, and this trend will only continue on later albums. For those who dislike his earlier use of particularly unsettling imagery and the harsher, more raw tone of the band than this is a great place to start.
Score:
Hompage: Rammstein.com
Reviewer: Paul Gifford
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