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Rammstein's video for "Mein Herz Brennt(Piano Version)" premiered today. What a lush, lovely, haunting piece. For the first minute, I was confused and even a trifle disappointed. It was so quiet, and where were the rest of the band? That pancake on Till's face looks like he rolled about in the Joker's leavings. But the longer I listened, and the longer I watched Till's face, the more affecting and arresting it was. There's a mournful, elegiac quality to the piece that reminds me of a declining stage diva tottering aimlessly around a derelict stage, reliving past triumphs in a fading mind.
He's not, but when Till first came into view, I thought he was wearing the sad remnants of Richard's ballgown.
Opinion seems to be split among the fanbase, with the fans of the video praising Rammstein for taking a risk and the naysayers decrying it as boring. I suspect that at least some of the naysayers are vying for edgy points, while others are people whose interest in the band has been waning, but they haven't wanted to desert them entirely for fear of being seen as disloyal bandwagon hoppers; if their fannish attachment has faded, then just say so. No need to point to a video and blame it for your disillusionment. Change happens, and there's nothing wrong with saying Rammstein no longer works for you. No need to couch it in the disingenuous terms of the band's purportedly obvious artistic decline.
My favorite are the alarmists who've begun to speculate that a)Till has blown his voice and has chosen to hide it by crooning softly for the video, and b)this surely must be the band's swan song.
Is Till's voice the same as it was fifteen years ago? No. But it's hardly a sad ruin. The LIFAD and MiG tours proved that he can still belt it out when he needs to, and those squawking gossips and wannabe experts pontificating so loftily about the obvious use of playback on those tours can kindly sit and spin. He's fifty years old and smokes and drinks. Roughening is inevitable under those circumstances. He would hardly be the first vocalist to lose a measure of his former range and stamina. James Hetfield's vocals have changed radically in the past ten years, as have Tom Araya's. It's a hazard of the profession and a natural consequence of aging.
And oh, I don't know, but maybe he opted not to "bellow" the song because doing so would overpower the delicate, somber notes of the piano. Why do a piano version if the piano is going to be drowned out by Till flaunting his prodigious testosterone supply through his soaring vocals? It would be like listening for a mouse fart at the elephants' baked bean potluck.
As for the possibility of this single marking the end of the band's creative output, bitch, please. Fans trot this hobbled old nag out every time the band do or say anything. Put down the shovels, you hot-eyed ghouls. They'll be done when they're done. Never have I seen a fanbase so eager to crowd around a carcass and start nibbling.
He's not, but when Till first came into view, I thought he was wearing the sad remnants of Richard's ballgown.
Opinion seems to be split among the fanbase, with the fans of the video praising Rammstein for taking a risk and the naysayers decrying it as boring. I suspect that at least some of the naysayers are vying for edgy points, while others are people whose interest in the band has been waning, but they haven't wanted to desert them entirely for fear of being seen as disloyal bandwagon hoppers; if their fannish attachment has faded, then just say so. No need to point to a video and blame it for your disillusionment. Change happens, and there's nothing wrong with saying Rammstein no longer works for you. No need to couch it in the disingenuous terms of the band's purportedly obvious artistic decline.
My favorite are the alarmists who've begun to speculate that a)Till has blown his voice and has chosen to hide it by crooning softly for the video, and b)this surely must be the band's swan song.
Is Till's voice the same as it was fifteen years ago? No. But it's hardly a sad ruin. The LIFAD and MiG tours proved that he can still belt it out when he needs to, and those squawking gossips and wannabe experts pontificating so loftily about the obvious use of playback on those tours can kindly sit and spin. He's fifty years old and smokes and drinks. Roughening is inevitable under those circumstances. He would hardly be the first vocalist to lose a measure of his former range and stamina. James Hetfield's vocals have changed radically in the past ten years, as have Tom Araya's. It's a hazard of the profession and a natural consequence of aging.
And oh, I don't know, but maybe he opted not to "bellow" the song because doing so would overpower the delicate, somber notes of the piano. Why do a piano version if the piano is going to be drowned out by Till flaunting his prodigious testosterone supply through his soaring vocals? It would be like listening for a mouse fart at the elephants' baked bean potluck.
As for the possibility of this single marking the end of the band's creative output, bitch, please. Fans trot this hobbled old nag out every time the band do or say anything. Put down the shovels, you hot-eyed ghouls. They'll be done when they're done. Never have I seen a fanbase so eager to crowd around a carcass and start nibbling.
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