Mutter (Tour Edition)

Spin - 6 out of 10 - "...'SPROCKETS'-meets-James Hettfield on fire....bizarre proof that one hit weirdness out-bizarred underground high-concept time and time again..." Alternative Press - 4 out of 5 - "...Chock-full of red-faced thrills....one of the few metal albums just as suited for knocking boots in the bedroom as it is for knocking heads in the pit." Entertainment Weekly - "...Sternly self-parodic, headbanging horror rock at its finest..." - Rating: B+ CMJ - "...The band largely pull from the same bag of tricks that it used on 1998s SEHNSUCHT: Metallica-esque riffs, Gothic string pads, growling...The difference is that this time they've stepped-up their songwriting and production..." Kerrang - "Imbuing their sound with a cinematic scope previously absent from their works, MUTTER is a stirring record." Spin (5/01, pp.144-5) - 6 out of 10 - "...'SPROCKETS'-meets-James Hettfield on fire....bizarre proof that one hit weirdness out-bizarred underground high-concept time and time again..." Entertainment Weekly (4/6/01, p.120) - "...Sternly self-parodic, headbanging horror rock at its finest..." - Rating: B+ Alternative Press (6/01, p.81) - 4 out of 5 - "...Chock-full of red-faced thrills....one of the few metal albums just as suited for knocking boots in the bedroom as it is for knocking heads in the pit." CMJ (4/9/01, p.5) - "...The band largely pull from the same bag of tricks that it used on 1998s SEHNSUCHT: Metallica-esque riffs, Gothic string pads, growling...The difference is that this time they've stepped-up their songwriting and production..." Kerrang (Magazine) (p.52) - "Imbuing their sound with a cinematic scope previously absent from their works, MUTTER is a stirring record."

Where Germany's Rammstein explored a sinister, electronic-oriented sound in their previous work, MUTTER finds the doyens of doom turning more "organic", if no less ominous. In place of techno beats and synthesizers, this album offers crunching electric guitars and pounding drums, offset by operatic backing vocals and orchestral washes. The whole affair is awash with an almost Wagnerian sense of grandeur and an undeniable darkness.
The unsettling aspects of MUTTER are underscored by Rammstein's vocals, which highlight the most guttural aspects of the German language, and the gloomy industrial-rock feel that pervades the album. It's clearly the band's intention to disturb, an agenda achieved with flying colors on this album, which looms large with barely suppressed rage and other ugly emotions rising to the sonic surface.|