Oomph! – Monster (2008)

Monster is tenth studio album of the German band Oomph !, that was released in 2008 on the label Gun Records. The first single in the album “Wach auf!” was released on January 4, 2008. The video clip to it was released earlier, on December 14, 2007, as a promo-video for the film “Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem“. The video clip of the second single “Beim ersten Mal tut’s immer weh” was released on July 14 of the same year; video clip of the third single “Labyrinth” was released on August 12, 2008. The video clip for the song “Auf Kurs” was released on November 12, 2008, while the video clip for the fourth single “Sandmann” was released on January 9, 2009. The single “Sandmann” was included only in the reissue of the album. The album took eighth place in the German chart.

It is very good and high-quality album by OOMPH! Contrary to expectations, OOMPH! released the pretty diverse album consisting of 13 tracks. The style of this album can be defined as industrial metal with symphonic pop and even blues (!). There is also an absolute masterpiece – the song titled “Labyrinth” with a gorgeous vocal, the ballad “Auf Kurs” and magnificent song “In deinen Hüften”. There are also some relaxing compositions. Since this album is anniversary one, I found here a lot of references to the previous albums. Labyrinth is very similar to “Augen Auf”, in “Wer schön sein will muss leiden” I can hear the half-forgotten keyboard parts. In this album there are rather ordinary melodies, but because of the catchy vocals and Dero’s charisma  I can’t consider this work as uninteresting. The arrangements are quite predictable, the riffs are also expected, but it creates a strong and clear atmosphere. The whole album is performed in the same style, and that’s why it is perceived as a whole. There is no hits like “Sex hat keine Macht” or “Augen auf”, and only “Brich aus” I want to listen again and again. In general, the album is rather good.

I can call this album a good commercial pop album of industrial metal band. There are simple and uncomplicated melodies, but at the same time interesting ones. In comparison with the two previous albums of Oomph!, I note that it is actually weaker, and in some moments it reminds me the songs of Tokio Hotel. It seems to me that most of the melodies were wrote too fast, in contrast to the similarly stylistic, but more thoughtful and aggressive, two previous albums. Oomph! completely and totally refused to perform classic industrial-brutal songs, but for the first time after turning from aggression and power to melodiousness they recorded an album, almost all the songs of which contain interesting melodies. I mean that almost every song is a potential hit.