Review 1 of 2

Impaler writes:

5of 5 Stars

Rammstein.... the word conjures up images that horrify most parents. Why would any band sing about death, pain, and mutilation... and do it in German?! Answer: because it kicks ass on a cosmic scale. "Reise Reise" is, in my humble opinion, the distillation of their icy german brilliance into one drop of pure mayhem.
Most notable among its tracks are "Mein Teil" which tells the story of a strange man who wishes to be consumed by another ("today i will meet a man who loves my so much he could eat me"). "Amerika" sums up the plight of many europeans, set to a maddeningly addictive set of riffs. The crowning achievement on this record is the title track, "Reise Reise" which is a tribute to those who pow the seas, both in peace and war ("one plunges the lance into his enemy, another thrusts it into the sea") its the kind of song that you can listen to over and over again and still be in awe. the last of its notable is "Benzin", the anthem for all pyromaniacs out there, sung in a high-octane, raspy growl. Rammstein, i bow to you for helping to bring industrail metal into the mainstream. Danke. Danke schon.

Jul 9, 2007 10:36:19

Review 2 of 2

Deleanu writes:

4of 5 Stars

The songs on Rammstein’s new album mix excerpts from previous works by the German industrial band and an operatic choir that seems to be teleported directly from the Roman tragedy through a deus ex machina. Truly, the industrial rockers are the new gods of German music, blending a hard-line sound that reminds one of the early minimalist kraut-rock of Kraftwerk (performing unplugged in a disaffected Messerschmitt plant!) and Wagner (performed in the same setting by the same Kraftwerk!). However, with or without the chorus tacked on, Rammstein still sound like a victor. This album sticks largely to original material, but the influences mentioned above make brief ghostly appearances. Nevertheless, most of the songs on REISE, REISE sound startlingly good, almost aggressively so, for their venerable genetic grounding.
In North America, Rammstein have the reputation of being one of the most intellectual bands of this era, and their voices, while not notably harmonious, are aggressively beautiful. A great example of this is the song which gives the title to this impressive album, but also MEIN TEIL (the first single from REISE, REISE), DALAI LAMA, LOS and AMERIKA. The Teutonic synthi-rockers bring something fresh to everything they try – and their thematic repertoire varies from the mutations of affection in a (post)industrially alienated society to Tibetan mysticism, and geographically from America to Russia (see the excellent song MOSKAU). The German Romantic heroes are present here as well, and from Goethe to the composer of THE VALKYRIE, there is a little step to tread.
The husky, virile sound of the German sextet is once again unbeatable in the industrial genre, and REISE, REISE should be in every Rammstein-fancier’s collection. DANIEL DELEANU

Nov 1, 2006 15:34:28