12 '00s Hard Rock Albums All Fans Should Own
5. Rammstein - Mutter
Rammstein are either the funniest serious band or the most serious funny band out there. Their stomping, industrial grind combined with gruff vocals and rousing, Wagnerial choruses can’t help but raise a chuckle - and yet the things they achieve on their best records you don’t hear elsewhere.
Their songs don’t skip along, they stomp. The title track has Till Lindemann’s bold vocals over a slow, thumping drum beat and an unmistakably European lead guitar tone, before giving way to a brief string section then a key change worthy of Backstreet Boys. Each of these songs is a mini opera, a journey.
Things get more sinister on "Feuer frei!" (Fire at Will!), an unsurprisingly militaristic charge with an innovative solo and a disarmingly wobbly bass. The record gets most theatrical on lead single “Sonne”, with its wild dynamic shifts from a crunching verse to a soaring, almost pretty chorus.
They’re one of the great live acts in metal, and you can hear it in the record. They’re a band brimming with ideas - they can get a little silly, but frankly they’re all the better for it.