RAMM-BAM SLAM DUNK
RAMMSTEIN
‘How much you follow the lyrics when the guitarists are breathing out fourmetre tongues of flame and the arena reeks of gas, I dunno. But the noise created by this group is one you feel to the core.’
Nothing gets a crowd raising its hands in the air in unison like images of what looked like Leni Riefenstahl’s film of the 1936 Olympics interspersed with images of a billowing stars and stripes. Some statement about the strength of nations being made perhaps?
More like the best dance night at that club in Wings of Desire where the fallen angels go to get their drinks on.
That Germany’s Rammstein should have a DJ open its North American tour in support of the 17-year-old sextet’s Made in Germany greatest hits retrospective should come as no surprise. Neue Deutsche Härte (or industrial metal) that it plays traces its origins back to the harsh electronic dance music and experimental noise that ruled the underground clubs of its native Berlin back in the 80s. Vancouver’s Skinny Puppy played an integral part in taking the form into band territory and the likes of Ministry and Nine Inch Nails made it mass-market music.
But Rammstein is something altogether more.
Since forming in 1994, the group has sold 15 million albums and been nominated for a Grammy in the heavy-metal category: Without singing in English. After Sunday night’s over the top performance there is no doubt as to why. A more hyperbolic hard-rock show may not exist. So much pyrotechnics take place you can, literally, feel the heat.
Taking to the stage via a gangway that descended right over the crowd, Till Lindemann (lead vocalist), Richard Z. Kruspe (guitar/backing), Paul H. Landers (guitar/backing), Christoph “Doom” Schneider (drums), Christian “Flake” Lorenz (keys) and Oliver Riedel (bass) came through the audience to get there. Once they crossed to the stage it was full on.
By the third tune, “Rammstein” from the debut album Herzeleid, Lindemann was spinning flames right in his hands. But for all that, it’s the music that makes the fans turn up.
Songs such as “Sonne” from the CD Mutter or the biggest single “Du Hast” from Sehnsucht ride along on bone-crushing riffs and machine-gun drumming with keyboard overlays that wouldn’t sound out of place in a top 40 dance hit. Of course, there aren’t many hit songs such as “Mein Teil” about the horrible case of Armin Meiwes who killed and ate a voluntary victim he found on the Internet. The comic video was very controversial and they have kept up to it with subsequent ones.
How much you follow the lyrics when the guitarists are breathing out four-metre tongues of flame and the arena reeks of gas, I dunno.
There is certainly no question that the noise created by this combo is one you feel to the core. Lindemann has a positively booming baritone and the German tongue is absolutely perfect for the music.
Doubtless, many singing along to the choruses were doing it phonetically. But the smiles on their faces were universally translatable: Awesome show.