Band:	Rammstein
Album:	Reise, Reise
Style:	Industrial metal
Release date:	September 20, 2004
Guest review by:	Bas

01. Reise, Reise
02. Mein Teil
03. Dalai Lama
04. Keine Lust
05. Los
06. Amerika
07. Moskau [feat. Viktoria Fersh]
08. Morgenstern
09. Stein Um Stein
10. Ohne Dich
11. Amour

Reise Reise... yeah I really was terribly unimpressed the first time I heard this release. I wasn't much of a Rammstein fan anyway, liking some of their heaviest songs but further thinking of them as a boring and average industrial metal band. Now I think differently.

After a comment by a friend of mine made me listen to Rammstein's lyrics more closely I was greatly impressed. Yes, in my opinion lyrics are the main thing that Rammstein gives us. Be it the social-critical Amerika or the cannibalistic Mein Teil or Dalai Lama, a modern remake of Goethe's world famous "erlkönig" (erlking) in which the father squeezes his son to death out of fear for his child's life, or Morgenstern which shows a lot of similarities to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The lyrics are simply brilliant. Like on all other albums the songs are filled with brilliant metaphors and every single song can be listened to with two or three different meanings. Like always the lyrics are about modern decadence, violence and sex. Listening to the lyrics will unfortunately be very difficult for non-native German speakers though. Because a lot of the lines are parables and idioms. For anyone who speaks very good German I greatly recommend Rammstein for the lyrics alone though.

That much for the lyrics... now the music. Once again Rammstein give us a terribly creative piece of art. Morbid as much as it is rich in variation. Choirs, lines sung in Russian, a lot of different singing styles, varied drumming and a lot more, most notably a few scattered and extremely cool keyboard effects. I just love how the music often changes from slow and soft parts to heavier riffing and harsher vocals. While some songs are rather shocking, like Mein Teil with some very weird vocals and background wails, others like Ohne Dich are very quiet and peaceful.

For me this album isn't that much a music CD, I rather view it as a piece of art.

Now I definitely don't dislike this album nearly as much as I did at the beginning, obviously. But what exactly do I think now? First I Thought this was by far the worst of Rammstein's work, mainly because it's a lot less heavy then most others. Now I still don't view it as their best, but definitely their richest in variation. It has so many different influences and elements that you'll be able to listen to it for a long time and always find something new.

This is best listened to with vast knowledge of the German language, but also enjoyable without it if you like songs that are rich in variation. If you loved other Rammstein albums because of the heavier songs then don't waste your money on this one. You won't like it very much. If you like Rammstein because of their experimental approaches and their variation and little "special effects" then this one might become your favourite Rammstein album very fast.