RAMMSTEIN — Sehnsucht (review)

RAMMSTEIN — Sehnsucht album cover Album · 1997 · Industrial Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
siLLy puPPy
SEHNSUCHT (yearning) is the album where RAMMSTEIN really got their sound and image honed perfectly. The metal riffs are much tighter and more interesting than on their debut album and a new burst of creativity finds all kinds of interesting ways to usher those metal riffs in. Starting with the very first cut which is the title track we hear some cut-off yodeling followed by a high-energy synthesizer ushering in some serious danceable metal guitar riffing, electronic sounding percussion and ominous growling vocals in the German language! Although this formula pretty much stays the same throughout the album, many of the sounds that usher in the metal vary. On “Engel (angel)” for example, it starts out with a whistling melody, “Tier (animal)” with a snazzy drum riff with a cool guitar intro and so forth and so on.

One could argue that this is a metallization of what the industrial band Einstürzende Neubauten came up with over a decade earlier as many of the frenetic synth lines are right out of their playbook and for anyone familiar with their style it’s hard to miss, however despite the influence in the synth industrial section of RAMMSTEIN, they manage to pack a powerful punch with the metal hooks and creepy Third Reich type vocal style as well as with their occupied Germany type marching style of the rhythms. All in all they crafted and honed their sound to exemplify a robotic and cold emotional state that is glossed over electronica frosting. Metal disco maybe? You sure can dance to this shit.

This was my first RAMMSTEIN album and so enchanted by this unique sound that I have played this to death. The mix of the aggressive metal with the sensual additional sounds is very entertaining to say the least. You get the strange layering of growling aggressive male vocals with beautiful female background ooo's and aahhh's and full on metal riffing with heavenly melodic synth lines often reminding me of Kraftwerk as well as the Einstürzende Neubauten influence. This album has some really strong tracks but unfortunately not all are created equal bringing it down as a whole. My version has a twelfth hidden track called “Stripped” which is a Depeche Mode cover sung in English. A huge step up from “Herzleid.”
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