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Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 'Messer' review 31-Jan-03

Till Lindemann - Messer
The volume of poems "Messer" by the "Rammstein" singer Till Lindemann is according to the opinion of critic Andreas Rosenfelder best positioned in the "corner of the shelf for black Kitsch".

Neither the highly polished pictures by Lindemann-friend and publisher Gert Hof, Lindemann in the pose of ostracised exhibit, nor the lyrical quality of the volume can convince Rosenfelder.

An almost conservative form purpose imprints the texts, which quickly push the boundaries in the longer ballads however. "Usually", Rosenfelder analyses “they go through a kind of doggerel, a poetic parallel of ' Rammsteins' pounding 4-4 beat".

With regards to the content Rosenfelder see flashes of the "Decadence of the turn of the century". Although different to Baudelaire or Benn, do not look for Lindemann by any means as the shock of the modern trend, but on the contrary rather as the forgotten expression.

In all other respects his poems compare just about with Krüppeln, Dirnen and Lendenfrüchten.
All in all: Explicit lyrics beyond good taste.

© 2005 Sue Lindemann