Rammstein finds humor and lust in the end times

“Zeit” by Rammstein (Universal Music)

Maybe the apocalypse won’t be so bad.

It’ll be fine if it’s anything like Rammstein’s new “Zeit” – coated in bleakness, of course, but packed with cathartic rage, simmering with sex and loaded with humor.

The iconic German band relies on industrial-strength electric grooves (a trademark of the group for its near-30-year existence), more melodies than should be legal and ridiculous histrionics, emphasized by lead singer Till Lindemann’s booming voice and mastery of every harsh tone the German language affords. Don’t miss how he coarsely rolls his “Rs” on the plow-driving “Giftig” (“Toxic”).

“Zeit” is absurdly juvenile at times, as guilty pleasures often are, however it’s almost relentlessly engaging.

Opening cut “Armee der Tristen” (“Army of the Sad”) sets the tone, jabbing guitars leading a march of misery, though subsequently Rammstein zigs and zags gleefully through the end times of “Zeit.” The title track embraces mortality as an acceptable inevitability, its soft tones sailing off into a gallop, and the careening “OK” intertwines lust and romance while “Angst” simply pummels the atmosphere with crushing doom.

Then there’s the playful, and biting, send-up of body modification that is “Zick Zack” – oddly contrasted by a later droll track about Lindermann’s one desired trait for a mate: an ample bosom. There’s also peculiar intrigue in the drama about an adult man and his abusive mom (“Meine Tranen”) and the uneasy lullaby where lies meet idealism (“Lugen”).

Fittingly, “Zeit” comes down to the finality of death on closing track “Adieu,” where Lindemann promises to be there at the end, singing one last time.

That sure beats dying alone.