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By JEFF MAKI
Everyone's favorite German metal exports are back with a new album, Rosenrot. This comes right on the heels of the band's last release, Reise, Reise, which had decent success in the United States. That album was a fairly strong outing, with much of what you'd expect from Rammstein, though at times it hinted at what was to come with Rosenrot.
What we get with is a somewhat toned down and experimental album. The record starts off strong enough with "Benzin," "Mann gegen Mann" and the title track, but from this point on, it takes on an experimental, atmospheric approach. Be warned: This is not the Rammstein you think you know. It's not bad, just different from what we're used to hearing from the band. Songs are slow to start, picking up to mid-pace at best and take on a gothic style, almost resembling Type O Negative. A bulk of the material seems to be similar in structure to "Sonne" from Mutter. Many effects, keyboards and backing vocals are used, making the songs interesting. But a few of these tracks you probably couldn't even classify as metal. There's even an acoustic track featuring female vocals sung in English and another hilarious song in Spanish! There are 5 -6 songs, however, that are heavy enough and sound like the old Rammstein. "Zerstoren" may be one of the heaviest songs Rammstein have ever recorded. There's quite a variety of sounds on this release, but little stands out and immediately grabs your attention.
Rosenrot is all over the place, which is both good and bad. Are they mellowing out, or simply experimenting? Who knows, but whatever the reason, Rosenrot will surely be met with mixed reaction from fans.
It's an interesting record to say the least and certainly not what you would expect. But it's just not up to par with the band's past material.
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