The long anticipated Rammstein album "Zeit" is finally here! I couldn't be any more excited about it, and it's so fuckin good! They've grown SO MUCH as musicians, and have made a very emotion packed and well crafted album.
The first track isn't a super heavy hitter, but I think that was a good choice since the second track is the ballad "Zeit". One thing that I was a little surprised about was the focus on keys and atmospheric type synth sounds, and the guitars sort of taking a back seat. Nothing wrong with that, of course. Once "Zeit" finally kicks in and we get that heavy riff towards the middle, you really get into it and start to get a feel for the album. I love how seamlessly they can go from melancholy heavy rocking to soft and gentle keys with vocals.
The fourth track "Giftig" hits like a suckerpunch, and we finally get something really hard hitting. The layering on the chorus vocals is different than anything I've heard them do before. This song is so good. I love the catchy riffs. After that we get "Zick Zack", which is such a good song, and the music video was absolutely disturbingly hilarious in a way only Rammstein can do. I feel like this song sounds like it could have come right off of the "Mutter" album, it's got so much similarities to "Rein Raus", and to some of the other tracks on that album.
"OK" and "Angst" are like a return to their roots. They're very heavy industrial sounding song, but even this still shows how much their sound has matured over the years. It's very tight and complex and has so much going on. The guitar riffs are so technical and they absolutely shred! I can't say enough good shit about these couple of songs. They're fantastic!
And then we get what sounds like a national anthem or some shit? The intro to "Dicke Titten" sounds like an old recording of something played at a political rally or something, and this carries on throughout the song. I especially liked Christoph's drum work in this one. It really stands out.
"Lugen" is an absolutely gorgeous ballad with a harp, and is definitely one of the strongest of Till's vocal perfomances of all time. It's absolutely amazing! A little more than halfway through it sounds like it's setting up for a drop, and then gets soft again, which I thought was absolutely great! One thing that really is weird about this song is they used some autotuning. It makes for a very interesting song. I'm kind of wondering if the song is meant to be a metaphor about music of today all being lies and nobody is actually talented anymore. Whatever the case, I definitely enjoyed it.
The final track, "Adieu" is so fucking good. It's so sad and definitely sounds like a goodbye to all of us who have been following them for years. Let's face it, the boys are getting older and probably thinking about retiring. I very much hope that isn't the case, but, it's something all of us Rammstein lovers are going to have to accept. I absolutely love this album and am going to be spinning it on repeat for quite some time. If you haven't heard it yet, you've definitely got to check it out. It kicks some serious ass! ~Gangis
Image credit: Album cover for "Zeit" by Rammstein.