Rammstein Rosenrot CD

"Rosenrot" translates as "Red-Rose". The fifth album from the Berlin sextet of Till Lindemann (vocals), Paul Landers (guitar), Christoph Schneider (drums), Richard Z. Kruspe (guitar), Flake Lorenz (keyboards) and Oliver Riedel (bass) make the impossible possible. They bring together what does not belong together: the Brothers Grimm and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Yes, it sounds absurd, but it's merely a stylistic device. The title fitting for this Rammstein album. It's a word like a poem, brimming with meaning and import; a poem that unites the beautiful with the ugly, the gentle with the cruel, and life with death.

Rammstein: Christoph Doom Schneider, Christian Lorenz, Till Lindemann, Paul Landers, Richard Z. Krupse, Oliver Riedel.
When the Berlin Wall came tumbling down, and Communism along with it, little did the world know that the monolithic regime-metal of Rammstein had been growing up behind it, soon to release itself upon the world and remind the free what it's like to have to walk in line. Wagnerian in scope and mood (if not in sound), 2006's ROSENROT finds the East German group offering up more of their uber-dramatic club/industrial chug that's as cold and massive as the hulking battleship that graces its cover. Imagine the ghost of Austrian pop star Falco inhabiting a giant steel robot and going on a city-destroying rampage; that's what's at stake here, and there are more than enough tracks providing the sort of dancefloor totalitarianism that Goths and rivetheads crave. The big surprise on ROSENROT is the half of the album dominated by ballads, quietly creeping along like blackened ivy up a castle wall. The band's signature German-only lyrics are also subverted here with "Te Quiero P***!," adding Mexican horns and bending their lockstep rhythmic assault to a Latin-centric cadence; it's like a soundtrack to a mechanical bullfight, and helps the group diversify their battle plan.
To date, Rammstein haven't been able to equal the excitement and power of their breakthrough 1998 album, Sehnsucht, and while Rosenrot suffers that fate, there's an EP's worth of brilliance and one track that towers above them all. Just as exciting as their massive hit "Du Hast," "Te Quiero Puta!" is a glorious blend of the group's usual Teutonic crunch and mariachi music that earns the exclamation point in its title. It's loco to hear Rammstein with bright horns and Latin vocalists and just about as odd to hear them with Sharleen Spiteri -- lead singer for the classy pop act Texas -- whose sweet and somber vocals make "Stirb Nicht Vor Mir (Don't Die Before I Do)" sound very dreamy, very Nightwish. The out of control "Zerstören" and "Benzin," with its biting social commentary on the world's addiction to oil, are the final two tracks for the hypothetical four-star EP, since the rest of Rosenrot sounds a bit too formulaic. Most everything is tense during the verses, then blows up during the choruses, but if there's one area the band has made giant steps, it's with the lyrics. Greed, irresponsible hedonism, and modern-day interpretations of Goethe are touched upon through wordplay and metaphor, all of it lost on the non-Deutsch speaking set. It still doesn't make up for the stale turns the music takes on a good portion of the album, but there are signs that Sehnsucht's worthy follow-up is more possible than ever. ~ David Jeffries

Kerrang (Magazine) (p.52) - "[T]here are some true gems here, such as the titanic 'Hilf Mir' and the aching 'Wo Bist Du'..."