Search - Rammstein :: Live Aus Berlin

A strong release. Excellent playing all around.

Steward Willons | Illinois | 01/18/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Rammstein is the ultimate band to see live with their theatrical, pyromaniacal shows and bizarre antics. Naturally, every Rammstein fan should own the DVD "Live Aus Berlin", but what about the CD version? Do we really need an audio only version, or is it merely redundant?



There aren't any new songs, but this live set could function as a sort of "greatest hits" compilation. The recording quality is excellent - strong presence of sound, great mix, an acceptable amount of crowd noise, but never a distracting amount.



Till's vocals are not as strong as on the studio albums, although part of this could be related to him singing songs engulfed in flames! I think that's the only real weakness. On their studio albums, his voice has this wonderful, menacing quality that kind of disappears on the live recording. It sounds less like he's singing and more like he's barking out lyrics. It's not a huge deal, but it's something to keep in mind.



At 79 minutes, there's plenty of material and Rammstein is able to survey most of their best tracks. I'm disappointed they didn't include "Stripped", as I think they do a great job with it. I believe the DVD has a few additional songs, but this isn't a big deal. I suppose it all boils down to whether you are satisfied to listen through your home theater gear, or if you need to play it elsewhere.



One final issue - we now have two Rammstein live releases: this and Volkerball. Both have strengths and weaknesses. Volkerball is more expensive, but it also gives you a DVD (and a second live CD depending on which version you buy). I think they're pretty comparable. If you're cool buying both, you should do so. If you only want one live Rammstein recording though, I'm a little bit partial to Volkerball, if only because it has songs from all their albums, hence greater variety.



Either way, this is a very strong live album. Overall, I recommend it highly to all Rammstein fans. For those new to Rammstein, I might recommend starting with one of the studio albums such as "Sehnsucht"."