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55 of 62 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
PHENOMENAL, December 13, 2004
Rammstein's latest album continues the greatness of one of the most ingenious and unique metal acts ever put together. I would think that I would hear a mediocre or so-so song by them by now, but no. This band just gets better and every song they make is awesome.
Reise Reise is a great jump for the band, this is easily their most creative album musically and I think lyrically as well. Once you start hearing the accordion on the shanty-ish "Reise Reise", you know you are in for something special. The album is different musically in the use of the accordion also in Moscow, and the acoustic trappings of Los which has a very cavernous bluesy feel.
Lyrically you have the madness of Mein Teil (taking in the story of one of Germany's notorious recent murders), to the ingenious of crass comercialism with Amerika as lead singer Teil waxes about the glory of US domination. Or the great symobolism of Dali Lama which talks about a plane crash of scared passengers, alluding to the Dali Lama's own true fear of flying. Absoultely brilliant!
They even make some poignant beautiful music in Ohne Dich (Without You), Tiel and the band has never sounded so wonderful. And the closer Amour sounds like these Germans could easily fit in comfortable in some dingy Paris cafe.
An incredibly diverse album filled with symbolism, great metal, and most importantly awesome tunes!!
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Evolving Sound, Same Great Rammstein, December 17, 2004
I'm going to levy a disclaimer for this one. If you listen to Rammstein because you like the extremely heavy and fast paced guitar riffs from the other 3 albums, then I'm warning you this album does not have nearly as much of that on it. However, if you like Rammstein because of the heavy sound, their ability to switch pace mid song, and their incredibly deviant metaphoric lyrics, then this album is perfect for you.
The band has said that they want to try and make Till sing better instead of just speak, and they want to make their songs more complex, and they did just that. This is truly a better work of metal musicianship, and these songs have much more melody than most of their previous works. Of course there are still some good fast paced tracks on there to help keep the overall album moving smoothly and let us know that they still enjoy that style, but for the most part this album is much more 'beautiful' and less 'hardcore' than their other efforts, and I am personally glad that Rammstein has decided to show off their skills a little more and start to stray from the standard formula of industrial heavy metal.
So if you're willing to hear something new, give this album a listen, just don't expect speed metal. I'm looking forward to seeing them in concert now that they have a diverse array of songs to play, I just hope they come to the states again!
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26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Guilty Pleasure, May 3, 2005
Rammstein are one of those bands which do one thing and do it very well. In the case of the German band, it's making very loud, very deep-voiced metal music with a sly sense of humour every now and then. "Reise, Reise" is largely more of the same that we've come to expect from them after their three previous albums.
There are several standout tracks here. The opener and title track is based around what appears to have once been a sea-shanty, at least it seems to have been one before Till Lindemann's voice got onto it coupled with a wall of guitars. Nevertheless, the melody is more readily discernible than many previous Rammstein efforts.
Also of note is "Dalai Lama", a song about rather typical Rammstein subject matter - dead people. This one features the "dead voices" that often appear, and on the surface seems to be a rather standard track. However, there are two interesting aspects to it. Firstly, as other reviewers have pointed out, the title alludes to a certain famous Tibetan monk and his fear of flying (after being on the flight described by Till, I think I'd be a little concerned about boarding another plane as well). More interesting for some, however, will be the lyrical parallels with the famous German poem "Der Erlkoenig". In typical fashion, Rammstein adds a level of mordant and sadistic tragedy to the story that has to be heard to be believed.
Another interesting track is "Moskau", which features Russian vocals in places (written in Cyrillic script in the liner notes). This is a particularly speedy track and should certainly get pulses racing among fans of that sort of thing.
Till's interest in perversion manifests itself in the track "Mein Teil" (literally "My Part", which means...well...you work it out). This track is inspired by the Armin Meiwes cannibalism trial in Germany and, to my ears at least, has overtones of a much earlier Rammstein offering - "Herzeleid"'s "Laichzeit" in the chorus. Nevertheless, the shout-along chorus of "Denn du bist/Was du isst/Und ihr wisst/Was das ist" ("Then you are/what you eat/and you all know/what that is") is well worth the price of admission.
Unlike many other reviewers, I also quite enjoyed the single of "Amerika". There's something to be said for Till's vocals soaring over the lines "We're all living in America/Amerika ist wunderbar", all in all sounding reminiscent of "Sehnsucht"'s "Stripped".
Is there any progression from the incredible "Mutter"? Probably not. The sound is still basically the same and the subject matter likewise. More importantly, is there any real redeeming value in this album? Almost certainly not. Rammstein are still purveyors of very loud, very angry-sounding German metal of sorts. For a fan, the fact that most of the tracks here could be exchanged with those on any of the previous three albums is more than enough endorsement of this album. For those of you who can't stand the thought, stay well away.
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