Inspired by the deadliest single-aircraft disaster in history, the fourth studio album, “Reise, Reise,” by Neue Deutsche Härte band RAMMSTEIN, released on September 27th, 2004, via Universal Music, proved such a timeless monolith of industrial metal that it still stands above the rest of its peers – not even the band itself has since managed to top this album’s perfect balance of thought-provoking existentialism, catchy choruses, and clockwork riffs. The album charted in the top ten in several European countries and was a number-one hit not only in Germany but in Austria, Switzerland, Iceland, Estonia, Mexico, and – of course! – Finland. RAMMSTEIN had initially planned to release a double album but later scrapped the idea; seven songs from these sessions were released on the follow-up album, “Rosenrot” (2005) and, in retrospect, it was a rather brilliant move not to include them on “Reise, Reise.” According to the band’s management, these songs were omitted due to “dramaturgical reasons” – and, regardless of whether industrial metal is or isn’t your particular cup of tea, you certainly have to hand it to the band that the dramaturgical arch on “Reise, Reise” turned out to be light-years ahead of practically anything that the band had released hitherto – or has even released since. With this endeavor, RAMMSTEIN honed their Teutonic industrial-metal palette to such perfection that it still is no easy feat to challenge.
While this endeavor is not a concept album, strictly speaking, the aerial theme pops up here and there, most notably in the artwork. The cover depicts an aircraft’s black box, that nearly indestructible small device, recording everything that happens on the plane, which can be used to determine, say, why and how an airplane has crashed. As a reference to this, the Reprise Records version of the album has a black-box recording of the above disaster, the Japanese Airlines Flight 123, incorporated in the title track opening the album. In some album versions, this recording is included as a hidden track – yes, that audio tech marvel which, fortunately, has pretty much disappeared by now! My version has neither.
As for the title track, “Reise, Reise,” it sets a nicely majestic tone for the whole endeavor. When this album came out 20 years ago, I was no stranger to RAMMSTEIN‘s music but, quite frankly, I had not really cared that much for “Herzeleid,” “Mutter,” or even “Sehnsucht.” I had taken the band for a joke that had gotten completely out of hand but this album changed everything right off the bat. While, later on the album, it would become clear that the band hadn’t entirely discarded their trademark of word-playing on double entendres, the lyrics instantly did come off a bit more mature than, say, those from the “Du Hast” era. The strings and the plaintive accordion theme add a nice character to the song. I mean, industrial metal with Nintendo bleeps does have its moments but, overall, this album has more emotional depth. So, it’s a crying shame, really, that this German bunch never followed through the trajectory they set up with this magnificent effort.
Each of the singles released off this album were class-A bangers: “Mein Teil,” “Dalai Lama,” “Keine Lust,” and even “Amerika,” even though the song’s music video was put on such heavy rotation at the time that I could not bear to listen to the song for years to come. Now, its mixture of sly sarcasm and politics sounds quite entertaining. Then, although less frequently heard on the radio, songs such as “Los” and “Moskau” pack just as much punch as these blockbusters. “Los” is even driven by a bluesy acoustic guitar – a feat that you do not come by too often on RAMMSTEIN albums!
Of these singles, “Dalai Lama” is probably the most interesting. According to the band, it has an almost hip-hop-like mentality to it. In this song, the band discarded the tried-and-true song arrangement of riff-verse-riff-chorus and opted for a song structure that is more akin to a hip-hop banger. Lyrically, it is an adaptation of “der Erlkönig,” a poem written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in 1782. The song replaces Goethe’s traveling man and child on horseback with a man and child on an aircraft. As in the poem, the travelers are menaced by a spirit but, contrary to the original story, RAMMSTEIN‘s adaptation takes on a markedly more morbid twist. So, why the title, “Dalai Lama?” It probably boils down to the Dalai Lama’s well-known dislike of air travel. Now, 20 years later, the song still stands out in the band’s repertoire as one of the absolute best songs they have ever written. Considering the song is sandwiched between two other gems – “Mein Teil,” the song about the Rotenburg Cannibal, and “Keine Lust,” the song with the band’s funniest music video – it speaks volumes that it still towers over them.
Okay, if there is something to complain about the album, had RAMMSTEIN not included “Steim und Steim,” the selection would read like a straight-up greatest hits compilation. While the chorus has some nice riffs, the verses seem as though lagging behind a bit, giving the song the appearance of a filler of sorts. Then again, if I listen to it in isolation, it doesn’t sound so bad. I guess the competition in this particular selection is just so tough. With this endeavor, the band hit their absolute peak, no two questions about it.
At the time of its release, “Reise, Reise” received generally positive reviews, although one online wise-crack from AllMusic claimed that, despite the album’s ingenuity and songcraft, it could not offer “enough for the nonfaithful to pick up on.” Well, two decades later, I would beg to disagree; this particular RAMMSTEIN offering was the deal-breaker for the nonfaithful, me, and judging by the sales, I wasn’t the only one. The band’s previous albums had left me cold but this endeavor hit hard. I would even go as far as to say that this album is the band’s absolute best offering to date. I have no idea what the hell happened to the band as they haven’t put out a full-length of this caliber ever since but, to give credit where it is due, “Reise, Reise” sounds just as fresh and rewarding, now, 20 years later, as it did in 2004.
Written by Jani Lehtinen
Tracklist
- Reise, Reise
- Mein Teil
- Dalai Lama
- Los
- Amerika
- Moskau (feat. Viktoria Fersh)
- Morgenstern
- Stein um Stein
- Ohne Dich
- Amour
Lineup
Till Lindemann – lead vocals
Richard Kruspe – lead guitars, backing vocals
Paul Landers – rhythm guitars, backing vocals
Oliver Riedel – bass
Christoph Schneider – drums
Christian Lorenz – keyboards
additional musicians:
Viktoria Fersh – vocals (track 7)
Bärbel Bühler – oboe (track 10)
Michael Kaden – accordion (tracks 1, 7)
Olsen Involtini – string arrangements (tracks 9, 10)
Sven Helbig – string arrangements (tracks 1, 9), choir arrangements (tracks 2, 6, 8)
Kinderchor Canzonetta – choir (track 6)
Dresdner Kammerchor – choir (tracks 2, 6, 8), conducted by Andreas Pabst
Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg – orchestra parts, conducted by Wolf
Kerschek, coordination by Nucleus, Jens Kuphal
Köpernicker Zupforchester – mandolin (track 10)
Label
Universal
Links
https://www.facebook.com/Rammstein
