Oomph! – XXV (2015)
XXV is the twelfth studio album of the German band Oomph !, released on July 31, 2015. Bearing in mind the last album by Oomph! – Des Wahnsinns Fette Beute, which, at least, has received mixed reviews, many people didn’t expect much from them. In the last album you could hear a maximum of industrial rock with highly questionable inclusions of pop rock, dancing EBM (and no wonder, because Dero (vocalist of the band) also is a DJ), as well as a large number of “slow songs” – all this could cause confusion. We consider this album as a kind of experiment.
The album XXV begins with the powerful anthem “Dein Retter”, the next goes a lyric ballad with the proper title “Alles Aus Liebe” (it has a rather good video clip shot in cold-dark colors). “Jetzt Oder Nie” surprised me by pretty interesting riffs at the beginning. “Als Wars Das Letzte Mal” is again a stunningly beautiful ballad full of grief. Probably, talking the next track, it is worth noting that on the album, in addition to the eternal theme of love, there is also criticism of society and religion (which is also eternal in some sense). So, “Mary Bell” was written by Dero under the impression of a book, which describes the keynote of the track – “no one is born bad, but others can make him bad”. I almost already forgot that Oomph! can tell about social issue when they want.
But as far as the new album by Oomph – XXV, they did everything possible to record this great album and even more. Heavy sound, that was missing since the albums Plastic and Ego, has appeared again; as for vocals of Dero – here I have nothing to say – everything is perfect (by the way, it is one of the few voices that are really recognizable in the flow of German industrial); a symphony is a great innovation in their work. Perhaps the symphony is the greatest asset of the new work by the industrial trio from Germany – it is beautiful, melodic and epic. Fortunately, the main advantage is not the only one, and I propose to all those who have not listened to the album XXV, to immerse into a separate world created by this band, and enjoy it. The album XXV looks and is perceived as a retrospective of the musical material of Oomph! for the past 25 years. That is not bad, although for me it remains an open question why the first part of the album include hits and memorable tracks, while the second part is kind of “background”. However, it doesn’t matter. It is a good album by the masters of the genre, and it sounds exactly as it has to sound.