Mutter (CD - 2001)

Additional personnel includes: Khira Li (spoken vocals); Gunter Joseck (condutor); Film Orchestra Babelsberg (strings); Florian Ammon (programming); Bobo (background vocals).

Engineers include: Ulf Kruckenberg, Michael Schubert.

Recorded at Miraval, France; Galaxy, Belgium; Nukleus, Saal 1 Studios, Berlin, Germany.

Personnel: Till Lindemann (vocals); Richard Kruspe (guitar); Florian Ammon (programming).

Audio Mixer: Stefan Glaumann.

Recording information: Galaxy Studios, Belgium; Haus Weimar, Heiligendamm, Germany; Nukleus Studio, Berlin, Germany; Studio Miraval, France; Studio Saal 1, Berlin, Germany.

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. minimize