Which band comes from East Berlin, was founded in 1994, and is the most successful band from our republic, indeed one of the most successful active bands on Earth?
Yes, logically. RAMMSTEIN
That wasn't too hard.
Three years after their last album, a new album titled “Zeit“ is now being released.
RAMMSTEIN was something new for me back then, something that excited me. My only concert of the band was the legendary concert at the Arena Berlin, where a large piece of stage decoration fell during the concert and injured a few spectators. I was not far from it. That was a very formative experience.
“Sehnsucht“ didn't appeal to me as much anymore, and I took the meteoric rise more critically.
RAMMSTEIN grew bigger and bigger, and I must say, even as an outsider, you can't completely escape this band. So it was clear to me when “Zeit“ was offered to me that I would listen to this album more closely.
There are 27 years between “Herzeleid“ and “Zeit“. So the name of the album fits perfectly.
The first two points that struck me immediately while listening to the album are that the band hasn't changed stylistically that much. They have become more bombastic, but otherwise their very own style is almost unchanged. The structure of the lyrics and the themes have also not changed much. I felt immediately at home again. It was a bit like coming home after a long time and almost everything is still the same.
What I admired about RAMMSTEIN back then and still admire today are the lyrics that often come across as simple, subtle, and sometimes even simplistic, however, if you engage with them, a depth unfolds that you wouldn't have expected.
Lyrics like those from “Schwarz“ are a great example. Here, you can interpret a lot. Dark thoughts, a depressive aura, hopelessness, escape into a dark dream world. However, one could also say, “What is this pathetic nonsense? What is this supposed to be?”. The two sides of a coin.
This is where RAMMSTEIN draws its great popularity. Everyone finds something in the lyrics, in the music, or in both, that speaks to them. And when Flake teases beautiful tones out of his keyboard, like in the song “Giftig“, the club and dance faction is also satisfied.
What Die Kassierer, Die Lokalmatadore, and Eisenpimmel couldn't achieve, the band from (East) Berlin does. “Dicke Titten“ is the name of a song. Sure, some think, but I tell them: “It's not like that!”. A text that critically deals with loneliness and the beauty ideals of our society. Even more, even clearer is the criticism of beauty ideals, yes the obsession with beauty in “Zick Zack“.
The video for “Angst“ is more than fitting to the lyrics. Here, our society and its behavior are criticized in a multi-layered, subtle, and yet very concrete way. Each of us who deals with the topic of fear and thinks about the fear of losing their possessions will be addressed here.
I wouldn't have expected so much criticism of society, people, life, and existence from RAMMSTEIN.
You can still immerse yourself in the music of RAMMSTEIN.
I am surprised by this album, by this band. I didn't expect so much!
