Information
Date: November 2001
Title: Rammstein Godhead Crossbreed
Source: Metal Edge
Press Article
Granted, there are certainly more patriotic ways to celebrate the Fourth of July than with German industrial-metal powder-keg Rammstein, but good luck finding any way more appropriate. While it took America's war for independence to spawn the immortal words "and the rockets let glare, the bombs bursting in air,"* it took Rammstein a mere 90 minutes to give the line a whole new meaning, cramming more pyrotechnics into their sold-out set at Los Angeles' Palace Theater than any jaw-dropped fan would have seen had they spent the night sky-gazing. Frontman Till Lindemann made headlines lighting himself on fire on the band's debut run through America a few short years ago, raising the ante to a point that left competing bands in awe - rumor has it, even the mighty Metallica were unwilling to take the stage after Rammstein on European festivals - and left many fans and critics wondering what the breakthrough sensations would do as an encore. Well, when in doubt, stick with what works... more fire.
Fire in the form of a military-issue flame thrower. Fire in the form of a glowing light in Lindemann's chest that explodes from smoking red pulse, to a burning heart. Fire that transforms the frontman into a human blowtorch, reinventing Gene Simmons' age-old stunt with a new-millennium twist. Fire in the form of enough explosions and flaming instruments and mic stands to give the fire marshall nightmares. And, of course, the fire-engulfed frontman that offered a visual twice as jarring as their sonic mayhem. Yes, Rammstein know a thing or two about blowing shit up, creating a visual all too welcome in this day-and-age of show-gazing bands performing remarkably un-spectacular pop-radio manifestos.
Radio is definitely something Rammstein aren't going to get a whole lot of with their German born-and-bred (and sung) hymns of metallic mayhem and perverse fantasia. While you don't need to look far to find English translations of their native tongue, even the completely uninitiated would have to border on clueless to not recognize the blatant homo-erotic landscape of their stageshow. Yes, these Rammstein boys are something special. Whether stomping the senses with the full-on militant march of "Du Hast" to wanking a bit more perversely through the material on their third and most recent release Mudder [sic], they're every bit the spectacle, with the music to match. When all is said and done, there's no match for the Stars and Stripes, but give Rammstein credit, they put up one hell of an argument on this Fourth of July.
Support acts Godhead and Crossbreed provided the perfect accompaniment to Rammstein's reich-inspired romp.**
* The lyrics are really "and the rockets red glare,
the bombs bursting in air"
** There is more to this article, but it's only about Crossbreed and
Godhead.