Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment
Rammstein’s Made in Germany is a musical retrospective created by Germany’s most popular industrial metal band. Rammstein is actually the most popular group in the “Neue Deutsche Harte” genre (“Neue Deutsche Harte” means “New German Hardness”).
Frankly, I am not a huge fan of industrial or dark metal, but during his teenage years in the 90s my son was a huge fan of Rammstein, and for some reason I felt drawn to listen to the music again and see if I could ferret out the fascination.
Made in Germany looks back at Rammstein’s music from 1995-2011, and includes their new hit single, “Mein Land.” The lyrics are almost entirely in German except for the song “Pussy,” which is partly in English and is about what you’ve probably guessed.
Not all of the songs are completely dark. “Amerika” is a biting but witty piece of political commentary, and “Rammlied” is a sort of battle cry invoking the band as leaders of the masses.”Du Hast”–which has inspired debate over whether he is singing “You have” or “You hate”–is about refusing to say, in the wedding vows, that the singer will always love his partner forever no matter what. But make no mistake–this is dark metal and often courts controversy, as the group does in their live act.
Nevertheless, Rammstein’s music is compelling, and it is not hard to figure out why they have sold over 15,000,000 records worldwide. Lead vocalist Till Lindemann has a voice made for metal, and German is a perfect language, with its harsher sound, for the subject matter.
Metal music stirs the blood and sends a chill down the spine. If you like that effect, no one does it better than Rammstein. I would keep this CD away from children even if they don’t understand the lyrics. Just the sound of it is too intense, I think, for young ears.
The second disc in this set contains seventeen remixes of Rammstein songs by familiar groups such as Faith No More and the Pet Shop Boys, as well as a lot of groups who were completely unknown to me. I found many of them of limited interest but the version of “Ohne Dich” by Laibach is very good.
Altogether, Made in Germany offers 33 tracks, 16 remastered originals and 17 remixes. That is way too much Rammstein for me in one sitting. After about ten songs, I’m exhausted and ready for a break. But I always come back, later, for more.
Real fans of industrial metal and/or Neue Deutch Harte will enjoy this marathon of music. Just make sure you’re ready for it before you actually translate the lyrics.
