Rammstein Ranker - Herzeleid

As I seemingly am unable to wrap my head around creating new content for Music in Motion, someone suggested to do a mock review - write about something that I know and love already and just go from there. As I am going to see Rammstein in six days (!!!), I decided to take upon myself the unenviable task of power ranking each album, track by track.

 

Crazy, I know.

 

Obviously, I have to start at the beginning, with 1995's Herzeleid. I'm not going to do a ton of album commentary before hand, I just honestly wonder what the world was like before this band dropped onto the scene. I wasn't a fan of R+ back in 1995, and in fact I didn't start seriously listening to them until after Rosenrot was released. But, as a lover of a) industrial metal, b) foreign languages, c) dark imagery and lyrics, and d) bands who don't take themselves too seriously; I found R+ to be a refreshing musical outlet and immediately fell in love with the band.

In the years since, I have devoted myself to understanding them and their language, and they have made their way up into the top tier of my favorite bands of all time. This status was only cemented when I found FleischgewehR, a Rammstein tribute group based out of Columbus. I had the chance to interview them 5 years ago, and became fast friends with the group, especially their singer Frankie, who hails from Germany and spent the first half of his life there. 

But enough about me... let's talk about the MUSIC. These rankings are 1000% subjective, just like a ton of R+'s lyrics, but this is how I see them when I listen to the band.

 

 

 

Rammstein - Herzeleid

11. Heirate mich

 If the band is allowed to be controversial out the wazoo, why can't I? Heirate mich (Marry me) is a live staple for the band and a popular track among fans near and far. Yet, I can honestly say that I have never listened to it and really got it. Every album has to have a song ranked 11th (fun fact, every R+ record has 11 tracks), and this is the one for me.

10. Das alte Leid

The interesting thing about Das Alte Leid (The Old Sorrow) is that I can see exactly what the band was going for on the track, and I feel like if it were recorded during the Mutter sessions or somewhere later in the band's history, it might have been a great track. But the recording sessions for Herzeleid were fraught with tensions between the six band members and their producer, and I feel like this is one of the songs that ended up falling short in the end. But, let's be honest, who doesn't love screaming ICH WILL FICKEN!!!

 

9. Weisses Fleisch

There was a time when I first discoverd the band that I thought Weisses Fleisch (White Flesh) was the absolute jam. The guitars drive hard, establishing that Neue Deutsche Härte sound that Rammstein made so popular at the time. The line "Mein schwarzes Blut und dein weißes Fleisch" lets you know just how brutal singer Till Lindemann can be lyrically, but the song just seems to fall short in other areas. Maybe a little too brutal, I dunno. The sexuality of R+'s music is an interesting juxtaposition for me, but we'll get into that later.

8. Rammstein

My best friend Andrew and I are both huge Rammstein fans, and while I was making this list, I discussed with him the major differences between recorded albums and live performances of their music (e.g. Live aus Berlin, Volkerball, etc). You wanna talk about a song that absolutely rips live? I give you the song that coined the name of the band, titled after the Ramstein air show disaster. From a recorded standpoint, it kind of plods on, but anytime FleischgewehR has played it live, I have headbanged harder than can be imagined. It's surprisingly heavy for something recorded 30 years ago.

7. Laichzeit

Remember what I said about the sexual side of the German titans? I give you Laichzeit (Spawning time), a song that references heavily on incest. It also is one of the better synth-based songs in the band's catalogue, with keyboardist Flake Lorenz shining the brightest here. It's not a song I go out of my way to listen to, but it's a fun one when it comes up.

 

6. Herzeleid

I've never been able to understand what it was about Herzeleid (Heartache) that I loved so much. Perhaps the way the lyrics are delivered, perhaps the meaning behind them, and perhaps just the thought of chanting "Herrrrrz-e-leid!" Either way, the song is great even if it mirrors a couple others on the record. A worthy title track, for sure.

 

5. Asche zu Asche

 There are very few tracks that truly embody R+'s ability to blend the dancey synths with the slamming guitars (and Christoph Schneider's hammering drums) more than Asche zu Asche (Ashes to Ashes), nor do many of their songs embody the band's desire to stir up controversial topics in lyrical form. The song seems to depict a ghost returning to haunt those who have killed him, except that the band clearly states that its protagonist is murdered on a cross. Just the same, it's a perfect blend of all of the above, and a shame it's only #5 on this record for me.

4. Der Meister

On the other hand, there's no way I could bump back any of the next 3 songs, or Der Meister (The Master), in which the string section destroy 4 minutes and 10 seconds of music. Bassist Ollie Riedel bounces all over the place on this one, while guitarists Richard Z Kruspe and Paul Landers blast their way through. It's one of the few songs where the lyrics don't do much for me, but it's so good musically that it ultimately balances out. This is a workout song, a cycling song... a song if you need to get jacked up.

3. Du reichst so gut

Another work of wizardry from Flake on the keys, Du reichst so gut (You smell so good) displays its intentions on the chorus when Till belts out "du riechst so gut ich geh’ dir hinterher". The way the keys pulse in the background of the song, the way Till sings about tracking and conquering his prey... it's just a HUGE song with screeching guitars and slapping snares. A beaut, and their first big single.

 

2. Wollt ihr das Bett in Flammen sehen

Somehow not a single, but arguably one of the biggest and most important songs in their catalogue, Rammstein absolutely announce themselves at the top of the record with Wollt ihr das Bett in Flammen sehen. The title is a mouthful and translates, literally, to "do you want to see the bed in flames?" I don't need to tell you what it's about. I do need to tell you that there isn't a riff alive that rips harder than the opening guitar progression on this song. When F+ play this song, my shoulder aches from fist-pumping. It's as good as it gets for all parties involved, and just like their German predecessors KMFDM, R+ show how much their love saying their names in their songs here. Also, "Sex ist eine Schlacht, Liebe ist Krieg" is easily one of the best choruses of all time.

1. Seemann

But, there can only be one song at the top of this power ranking, and it happens to be one of the most beautiful songs that R+ has ever recorded. Incredibly, the song is between Asche zu Asche and Du riechst... on the tracklisting, despite being as dramatically different as any other song on the record. It is the only softer, more ballad-esque song on the record, and serves as a springboard for future solemn anthems such as Nebel, Ohne Dich, and most recently Adieu. Quite simply, the song is gorgeous, with Ollie's bass riff carrying it to each guitar part. The song touches on loneliness at sea (Seemann translates to Sailor), solitude and heartache. For all the clunk and splatter of this record, Seemann stands alone as a song perfectly executed.

 

Thoughts? Agree, disagree, indifferent? It felt good to get this out of my system, so I think I'll do the rest of the older albums (up to Liebe is fur alle da) until we head out to Chicago at the end of the week. Hope you enjoyed. :)