The 35th Precinct

I've had the opportunity to listen to Reise, Reise and Rosenrot, and so I'm going to share my thoughts on yaoi them.

Reise, Reise:: This is my least favorite Rammstein album. It's not awful, a masterwork of mediocrity deserving the epithet of Fart on Celluloid, but there's little spark. Whereas their previous albums boasted excellent songs from first track to last(yes, Sehnsucht has the hideous "Klavier", but one out of twelve isn't bad), good songs are the exception rather than the rule on Reise.

"Mein Teil" is fabulous. How can you resist a song with the line, "Du bist, was du isst?" It's the German version of "You are what you eat," and the rhyming scheme it offers in German is too good to pass up in a song about cannibalism. You are what you eat, indeed.

"Los" is fabulous musicianship, period. "Amerika" is a delightfully snide critique of the insidious creep of Americanization into other cultures. It's so poppy and happy that the average Coca Cola executive would probably mistake it for an endorsement. Then again, the average Coca Cola executive probably isn't grooving to Rammstein.

"Ohne Dich" is disappointing. It's great live, but bland on the album.

Rosenrot: Rosenrot is my third favorite Rammstein album. Like Reise, it explores new sounds and arrangements, but Rosenrot exhibits a musical confidence not found in Reise. Some of the tracks are weird, yes, but there is a purpose to the oddity, and the music is still distinctly Rammstein for all the experimentation.

The highlight of the album is "Stirb Nicht Vor Mir/Don't Die Before I Do." It's a gorgeous, operatic song of longing. It's sung in German and in English, and the two halves of the duet create a haunting whole. It's quite lovely, and a marvelous change of pace from bestiality, incest, rape, stalking, necrophilia, BDSM, pyromania, and cannibalism. It's actually quite sweet.

And for God's sake, nobody burst my bubble by telling me that it's a song about erotic asphyxia or voyeurism. I don't need visions of Till Lindemann crouching outside some woman's window and peering avidly inside while practicing the scales on his trouser trombone. I've already had those thoughts; "He wraps his hands around my neck, and I pass away"? Hello, choke and poke. Leave me to my innocence and let me believe that Till is capable of tender passion and sentiment.

Ten bucks says "Zustoeren" is German code for whipping your skippy, because it sure as hell sounded like someone was flogging the bishop at the end of that song.

German lessons proceed. Today was spent on possessive adjectives mein, dein, euer, and Ihr, as well as kein and viel. We haven't gotten to "his" yet or to "hers. Though God help me, I think "hers" is "ihr", not to be confused with Ihr, which is formal singular and plural "your". Which is not to be confused with "euer", which is informal plural "your", or "dein" which is informal singular "your".

And no matter which "your" you use, you must remember the proper adjective ending and add an "e" if the noun in question is feminine or plural.

Piece of cake.