FROM THE CRYPTS - CELEBRATING PAST ALBUM RELEASES in the HISTORY of HARD ROCK & HEAVY METAL…
On October 28, 2005, German *Neue Deutsche Härte band Rammstein released their fifth full-length studio album Rosenrot (German pronunciation: [ˈʁoːzn̩ˌʁoːt], "Rose-Red") via Universal Music.
The album includes six songs artistically omitted from Reise, Reise. The album's first title was Reise, Reise Volume Two, but on August 18, 2005 the album was announced as Rosenrot. The cover art is nearly identical to the Japanese import of Reise, Reise. The image is a slightly altered photograph of the icebreaker USS Atka, taken on March 13; 1960 at McMurdo Station, Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica.
Side Note:
* (Neue Deutsche Härte (German: [ˈnɔʏə ˈdɔʏtʃə ˈhɛʁtə]; lit. "new German hardness"), sometimes abbreviated as NDH, is a subgenre of Rock music that developed in Germany and Austria during the early-to-mid 1990s and during early 2000s. Alluding to the style of Neue Deutsche Welle, the term was coined by the music press after the 1995 release of Rammstein's first studio album Herzeleid.)
Background:
While Rammstein did not actively promote the album, the band built anticipation through a variety of means. The first single from the album, Benzin, premiered at the Berliner Wuhlheide and was subsequently released on disc. Rammstein's official website featured one-minute samples from six of the tracks, and had featured a prominent release-date countdown. A brief section of the chorus from Rosenrot plays in the background of an e-card containing photographs of the band and basic album information. As of February 2006, the album had shipped 1 million copies globally.
On August 18, 2005 it was announced that Benzin would be the first video for Rosenrot. The Benzin video premiered on German MTV on Friday, September 16, 2005. In the video, all of the members of Rammstein except Flake play the role of reckless firemen driving a massive fire truck destroying things along the way. Flake appears at the end of the video as a man about to commit suicide by jumping off the roof of a tall building. The other band members open a life net for him but it ends up ripping. The video was shot in Berlin over three days in August 2005. It was directed by Uwe Flade.
The second video from the album, Rosenrot, premiered on November 30, 2005 on MTV Germany.
The third video, Mann gegen Mann, was released on February 1, 2006. It shows the band (genuinely) naked and utilizing their respective instruments to cover themselves, with the exception of Till, who is wearing a latex diaper, and sporting an inverted mohawk haircut. The video switches between the band playing, and teeming masses of naked male bodybuilders. Towards the end, Till transforms into the demon that is portrayed on the cover of the single.
Critical Reception:
In his review for AllMusic, David Jeffries wrote;
“To date, Rammstein haven't been able to equal the excitement and power of their breakthrough 1998 album, SEHNSUCHT, and while ROSENROT suffers that fate, there's an EP's worth of brilliance and one track that towers above them all. Just as exciting as their massive hit Du Hast, Te Quiero Puta! is a glorious blend of the group's usual Teutonic crunch and mariachi music that earns the exclamation point in its title. It's loco to hear Rammstein with bright horns and Latin vocalists and just about as odd to hear them with Sharleen Spiteri -- lead singer for the classy pop act Texas -- whose sweet and somber vocals make ""Stirb Nicht Vor Mir (Don't Die Before I Do) sound very dreamy, very Nightwish. The out of control Zerstören and Benzin, with its biting social commentary on the world's addiction to oil, are the final two tracks for the hypothetical four-star EP, since the rest of ROSENROT sounds a bit too formulaic. Most everything is tense during the verses, then blows up during the choruses, but if there's one area the band has made giant steps, it's with the lyrics. Greed, irresponsible hedonism, and modern-day interpretations of Goethe are touched upon through wordplay and metaphor, all of it lost on the non-Deutsch speaking set. It still doesn't make up for the stale turns the music takes on a good portion of the album, but there are signs that SEHNSUCHT's worthy follow-up is more possible than ever.”
Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells
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