VINIL Universal Records Rammstein - Rosenrot

2005

Lacquer Cut By – Ray Janos
Mastered By – Howie Weinberg
Mixed By – Stefan Glaumann

AllMusic : 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.

Sputnik: Rammstein’s discography has kept to a relatively routine pattern, writing fresh material to be made for a new album every couple of years, but Rosenrot is a little different to the rest of the groups albums and for a couple of reasons: firstly, Rosenrot – surprisingly – came out only a year after their 2004 LP Reise, Reise and secondly, over half of Rosenrot’s tracklist contains B-sides that never made the final cut on Reise, Reise. When people hear the word “B-side” they’ll grimace and assume that the songs were never good enough to be on a “proper” album; so why have Rammstein decided to take six songs from previous recordings and make a new album with them" The answer, quite simply, is they stand strong enough to be on the bands fifth studio outing.

Make no mistake, many might see the B-side tracks as a handicap, but Rammstein have never been a band to do things in the conventional sense, and Rosenrot stands up tall with the rest of the bands discography. The opening track, ”Benzin”, dissolves any doubts about an album dipping in quality, and proves that these guys are showing no sign of slowing down; from Chris’ grooving bass kicks in the verse to Till’s wall breaking screams in the chorus. The track comes packed in a sound that has been getting fine-tuned for several years, masterfully showcasing the heavy and infectious Rammstein we’ve come to know and love. Further proof that Rosenrot contains top-quality material is shown on songs like “Rosenrot”, “Spring” and “Wo bist du” that aim more towards the slightly more epic sound found on Mutter; while “Mann gegen Mann” brings the heavy duty, headbanging treatment.