release date: Oct. 16, 2009
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,34]
producer: Jacob Hellner, Rammstein
label: Universal - nationality: Germany
Track highlights: 1. "Rammlied" - 2. "Ich tu dir weh" - 3. "Waidmanns Heil" - 4. "Haifisch" - *5. "B********" - 7. "Wiener Blut" - 8. "Pussy" - 9. "Liebe ist für alle da" - 11. "Roter Sand"
*referred to as 'Bückstabü', a nonce word made up to mean whatever the listener wants it to mean
6th studio album by Rammstein. The album is a return to form by the band. This is not outtakes but a fine collection of songs where the band seeks new ways of expressing themselves. The album hasn't got a strong single release like many of its predecessors but it's more a whole album on a higher level than heard since Mutter (2001).
The promotional single "Pussy" became the band's first single to reach #1 on the national singles chart list (also in Finland), and it was released with a controversial and sexually explicit music video directed by Swedish music director Jonas Åkerlund. Two more singles followed as #2 and lastly #4 were selected for singles releases in 2010 without attracting much of the same attention. Like the previous four albums it topped the charts in Germany, which it also did in Austria, Denmark, Finland, The Netherlands, and in Switzerland. In Germany alone the album sold 2 x Platinum.
A rule of German censorship made the album exclusive to purchase by adults due to an inlay picture displaying Richard Kruspe spanking a nude woman, and the album was subsequently reissued without the picture and without the track "Ich to dir weh".
Overall it's not near their two best albums but neither as poor as the last two studio releases.
[ allmusic.com, Kerrang!, NME, PopMatters 4 / 5 stars ]
