[1]MEIN HERZ BRENNT (My Heart Burns): What an opening. The strings provide a deeply cinematic feel, as lead singer Till Lindemann opens with "Nun lieber Kinder, gebt fein acht", translating to "Now dear children, pay attention...". The strings deeper sections come in before bursting into guitars and drums, while the strings, still playing, perform an series of fast scales, coinciding with Rammstein's familiar industrial-sound. This contrast works remarkably well.

[2] LINKS 2 3 4 (Left 2 3 4): The political song of the album, contradicting claims that the are supporters of the Right Wing, or Nazism (The title represents a march). The guitars provide a surprisingly catchy theme and, in my opinion, is one of the most energetic songs on the album.

[3] SONNE (Sun): Rammstein created a guitar riff with this song that always makes me think "why hasn't this been done before?" A beautiful sampling of a wailing choir is heard towards the end, as "the world counts loudly to ten...", and the strong vocals emphasize the song just that much more. Wow.

[4]: ICH WILL (I Want): The song that got me into Rammstein. Within 20 seconds of hearing this song, I decided to buy all their albums! And I am very picky about music! Prior to hearing this, only classical was for me. The guitars and keyboard work together producing a monstrous, but obviously melodic sound.

[5]: FEUER FREI! (Open Fire!): Ok, a calm synth sound. Sounds quie nice I suppose, then, holy crap, KA-BOOM! The guitars, bass and keyboard hit you so fast, you really need to be aware of when it will arrive! Im my opinion, the "messiest" song of the album, but even so retains it's clean and "compact" sound.

[6]: MUTTER (Mother): The album song. Beautiful, anthem like guitar theme, different from any other song on the album. This song, like Mein Herz Brennt, includes the orchestra and creates a very powerful song. Right towards the end of the sogn Till's voice fades in before hitting the final chorus and ending with "Mother! Oh give me strength".

[7]: SPIELUHR (Music box): A very story-like song. Opens with just Till's voice. One can visualise him reciting a fairy-tale to children. An awesome chorus, very expansive-sounding. Also includes another odd combination of guitars and music box and sounds really, quite wonderful.

[8]: ZWITTER (Hermaphrodite): Now we reach the more sinister of songs. This song has one of my favourite choruses and has downright hilarious lyrics. I suggest you check them out!

[9]: REIN RAUS (In Out): As can be guessed by the ever-so-subtle title, this is a song about sex. Understandably, people might be turned off by this, yet I find the composition so damn awesome! Right towards the end a frentic keyboard section flies up and down various scales performing loops and such creating a bizarre "circus effect"! Just perfect!

[10]: ADIOS (Goodbye): Yes, this is Spanish and was dedicated to a drug addict (I forget his name). Great guitar solo (I'm using these "great" adjectives a lot, I know...), and great chorus. Great great great!

[11]: NEBEL (Mist): Quite possibly my favourite song of all time. If you get the chance to hear this, please excuse the rather slow introduction and give it a chance. The song is about a man's last few moments with the girl he loves before she passes away. Set on a beach, the chorus sings "And then he kissed her, where the sea ends...". Don't mistake this for another cheesy pop song, please.

After the first few verses, the drums come in, as though you are expecting the guitars. Instead, what you get is lush, astonishingly beautiful strings flooding everything out. A cymbal clash concludes the string's part and back to the verse. If the chorus doesn't move you, the concluding words to the song will, as the it ends amidst a dissonant clash of strings and keyboard, and then resting on a long orchestral note. It ends, just as it begin. Beautifully.

So there you have it. Any industrial metal band that can successfully pull off a romantic song without being cheesy is a worthy band. And that is Rammstein.


Rammstein is grown and matured. Great album!   April 21, 2001
Nathan Biser (Pennsylvana)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful

Since Herzeleid hit the shelves I was hooked on the heavy hitting sound of Rammstein. I've been waiting for this release for a while now and here are some of my thoughts.

Mutter is a very sophisticated album. It's well balanced in terms of sound, meaning that it's not 100% hardcore all the way thru. Some tracks like "Links 234" are very hard hitting and is the kind of stuff you'd expect from Rammstein. Then there's others like "Mein Herz Brennt" that includes a symphony-like sound, adding an incredible depth and sadness to the track while keeping the gutiar crunch and metal sound mixed in very well.

There is so much depth to this album! Which is partly due to the keyboardist who adds the right sound effect/synth at exactly the right time. The guitar riffs are mostly different as well, which adds to the freshness of Mutter. The lyrics are alot more heartfelt and poetic then the previous albums. However, "Zwitter" (poking fun at hermaphodites funny as hell, go read the english lyrics) is pretty much the only track that's kind of sick if taken liturally.

"Feuer Frei!" isn't as bad of a track as some make it sound. It's fast, heavy and hard. I had the volume turned up pretty high by the time I got to this track and i nearly swerved off the road while driving because it started out soft, and then all of a sudden there was a guitar/drum punch and it scared the Stufing out of me!

Every track is great and I am fully satisfied with Mutter. However if your looking for 100% Hardcore all the way thru, you might be just a LITTLE bit (and i mean a little) disappointed. "Nobel" for instance is pretty much a laid back track which might not appease you. The rest aren't nearly as slow as this one is.

Along with many of the commenters, I agree Rammstien has matured greatly with Mutter. It's very refined and extremely well exacuted, maintaining their practically trademarked sound and yet blowing a big gust of fresh air to your ears.

I can't pick a favorite song, mainly because I like them all. The tracks fit together like a puzzle to create a wonderful album.

In short: it's DEFINATELY worth the money, It has growh in sound yet still the same Rammstein you've always known, lyrically superior then their previous albums, and it's very well mixed and great in sound. You won't be disappointed.


More Great Music From Rammstein   April 4, 2001
J. Howell (New England, USA)
9 out of 11 found this review helpful

Like many Americans, I've been a fan of Rammstein since "Du Hast" hit the radio. This group has an immense amount of talent, and that's as obvious on MUTTER as it was on SEHNSUCHT and HERZELEID.

If I had to describe Rammstein's 'sound' to someone else, I'd call it heavy metal with a kind of dark Opera quality. Melodic and head-banging at the same time. All of the songs possess a similar base of fast drumming and guitar riffs, with a layer over that of something innovative, making each track unique. This is a band that definitely knows what it's doing.

Standout tracks: 1. Mein Herz brennt, 3. Sonne (similar to "Du Hast" on SEHNSUCHT), 6. Mutter (similar to "Seemann" on HERZELEID), and 7. Spieluhr.

I'm giving MUTTER a solid 4 out of 5. Definitely a must buy for fans of Rammstein's previous work. There's no misstep here. If you're new to this band, and are into a track like "Sonne", you will not be disappointed with this cd.

But if you're still not sure where to start with Rammstein, I'd have to recommend you check out LIVE AUS BERLIN. You get all the hits, the energy of their live performances, the chanting fans, and once you listen to that I'm sure you'll want to check out their latest accomplishment: MUTTER.

Thanks for your time, hope this was helpful!


Rammstein's best? Quite possibly   January 30, 2003
S. E Katz (Boston, MA)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

I've been a fan of Rammstein since I first hear "Heirete Mich" and "Rammstein" on David Lynch's Lost Highway soundtrack. After Sehnsucht, I'd been waiting a long time for some new Rammstein material, and Mutter doesn't disappoint. It starts out quite surprisingly with "Mein Herz Brennt," which begins with a short spoken word intro and breaks into a soaring chorus, complete with a majestic string section. When I first heard the strings, I was shocked in a good way. Rammstein has grown a lot from the aggro industrial metal of Herzeleid, and the new album features a lot of slower tempos, as well as some much more standard fast paced Rammstein tunes.

After "Mein Herz Brennt" is "Links 234," a song that is a lot more in line with the first two albums. It's faster and more of a fist pumping anthem along the lines of "Asche zu Asche" and "Bück Dich." After that is "Sonne," a song that is quite heavy but with a riff that plays out in a slower, more satisfying pace. "Ich Will" shows a strong industrial edge to it, almost bordering on techno, after which they once again return to their roots on "Feuer Frei!," probably the heaviest of the songs on the disc.

The title track, "Mutter" is a soaring and epic song, and it is also one of the best they're ever recorded and quite possibly the highlight of the album. "Spieluhr" is a bit of a strange song, also starting with a short spoken word section, and featuring a strong bass line that carries the song and children singing in the chorus. After this comes "Zwitter" and "Rein Raus," two songs that return to the strange lyrical style of songs like "Weisses Fleisch" and "Klavier." "Zwitter" truly is hilarious if you have a working knowledge of German or find a translation. "Adios" still often takes me by surprise when I listen to it, starting out very quietly and serenely and exploding into an almost thrash metal like riff. The album ends with "Nebel," a ballad that is simply beautiful.

There isn't a weak song on the entire disc, and only the most aggro Rammstein fans won't love it. It's a perfect addition to any industrial fan's music collection.


Rammstein's Gothic theatre   July 25, 2001
8 out of 9 found this review helpful

This is theatre, through and through. Rammstein are nothing more than the dark humour of a darkly clad (and apparently darkly thinking) community: a chance for carefully painted Gothic visages around the world to crack half a smile.

Anybody who has witnessed Rammstein live will know that the band - plastic-penis props and pyrotechnics - like their theatrics to mix with the music. This is also clear on Mutter, their third studio album: here lies a rather disturbing rock opera.

Where Marilyn Manson might try admirably to be scary, Rammstein are more like genuinely scary guys trying to be funny. Through walls of industrial-influenced strings and the biggest chunker-chunker guitar riffs around, these East Germans are playing with perceptions.

The production on Mutter is absolutely amazing. Get some really good headphones (German make, of course), indulge in your poison and listen to this - loud. If Gladiator was epic and spectacular enough to win a gump like Russell Crowe an Academy Award, then Mutter definitely owes Rammstein a Grammy.

Taking full advantage of this massive sound, the band waste no time in setting about doing what they do best: creating melodrama. From the opening grandeur of "Mein Herz Brennt" - which sounds like Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir" after a strict diet of sausage, sauerkraut and steroids - Mutter is gloriously over the top. The singles "Links 2 3 4" and "Sonne" both pack harpoon-sized hooks and 10-tonne riffs, while "Feuer Frei!" spits its refrain with the attitude of a Hun charging into battle; you can hear the pleasure with which the band take on their warrior roles.

The title track builds from a delicate introduction, which vocalist Till Lindemann seems to communicate some very serious longing for his mother (not necessarily in an appropriate sense) before delivering an ear-splitting chorus that shows this is more than a kid calling for his mum...there are some serious psychological traumas in this character.

"Spieluhr" introduces the album's most interesting moment, with its spoken introduction as haunting as anything in The Exorcist; more eerie because you can't understand a word Lindemann is saying - like listening to a wizard conjuring demons, which arrive in the form of a massive Helmet-style guitar riff.

Sure, like all Gothic art, Mutter is too extravagant and unwieldy in places, but it's still a musical journey though one of the most bizarre fun houses around.