Simon RushworthLindemann – Skills In Pills (Warner Music)
Genre: Alt Rock/Industrial Rock
A vocalist as devilishly unique as Till Lindemann faces the ultimate challenge as a solo artist: how to make his own music sound different and distinctive enough to complement – rather than compete with – the day job.
Or perhaps that’s bottom of the list of priorities where one of rock’s most colourful frontman is concerned because Skills In Pills is, in fact, a Rammstein record in all but name.
Pounding industrial rhythms, sweeping orchestral keys, expletive-heavy subject matter and Lindemann’s trademark growl are all familiar fare where fans of Germany’s metal heavyweights are concerned.
But that doesn’t make Skills In Pills any less engrossing. Lindemann boasts enough creativity in the tip of his little finger to sustain multiple projects and the quality of the songs here more than compensates for the Rammstein-like approach and sound.
Up-tempo, angry, cynical and sneering, it’s yet another outpouring of Teutonic tantrums from the master of overreaction and exaggeration. Home Sweet Home (sadly not a cover of the Crue classic) attempts to showcase Lindemann’s softer side but he’s no balladeer: this is lewd, crude, dark and dirty.
Elsewhere the pace quickens, the imagery is increasingly disturbing and the individual at the centre of it all revels in his creative freedom and a sense of unadulterated pleasure. …Pills isn’t a cure – but it is medicine for the metal masses until their next fix of pure Rammstein. Simon Rushworth
RUSHONROCK RATED: 7/10 Thrills And Skills