Stahlmann – Quecksilber

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By now, on their second commercial album, German industrial metal outfit Stahlmann must be getting tired of constantly being directly compared to their countries biggest metal export of the last two decades, Rammstein. But as frustrated by that as they may feel, the comparisons are entirely justified and will not be alayed at all by this second collection of straight Rammstein clones. The riffs are like Rammstein, the vocals are identical to Till Lindemann, and even the non-metal interludes and bridges in the songs are the same kinds of things that Rammstein do in their songs. At least when Deathstars do it they have notably different vocals and sing in English. At least when Rammstein’s own Richard Kruspe did it with Emigrate he created more expansive, less aggressive music and sang in English. But to sing in the same way, in German (one of Rammstein’s trademark’s in a predominantly English-speaking industry), to exactly the same style of music, for a second time, is pretty unforgiveable if indeed their intention is to be anything other than branded a Rammstein copycat act. If they’re happy with the label, then fine because that’s all they’re achieving so far (and in the case of Quecksilber, the songs aren’t even as good as their eponymous label debut), but they probably don’t. There is but one glimmer of hope. Diener, while still not that much different to the style of the rest of their material, does incorporate a few modern rock influences and might be, if pursued further, the one edge Stahlmann can add to the mix. At the very least it’s by far the best song on this album. Buy this in about five years when Rammstein have retired and the withdrawal symptoms are setting in. Until then, there’s not really much point.

Written by Andy Lye
More: 2012, Albums, Industrial, Quick.Play Reviews, Stahlmann