So what does a collaboration between Till Lindemann and Peter Tägtgren sound like? Let’s find out…
[tracklist]
01. Skills In Pills
02. Ladyboy
03. Fat
04. Fish On
05. Children Of The Sun
06. Home Sweet Home
07. Cowboy
08. Golden Shower
09. Yukon
10. Praise Abort
[/tracklist]
[details]
[length]40:26[/length]
[record_label]Warner Music[/record_label]
[release_date]June 30th 2015[/release_date]
[/details]
If you don’t know who Till Lindemann and Peter Tägtgren are you might need to bone up on your metal history a bit…the former is the frontman for a little band called Rammstein who have sold a few albums here and there, and the latter is arguably one of the most acclaimed producers in underground metal, fronting two of his own bands, Pain and Hyprocrisy. With a Till Lindemann solo project that has been talked up for some years now, we were surprised to find out about this collaboration, even more so that the project would be in English – a first for Lindemann who actually learned English for this project. As a side project for both, we simply expected a Rammstein / Pain mash-up, but is that what we got?
To put it bluntly that is exactly what we got…but wait! The word ‘mash-up’ to metalheads these days just forces their eyes to roll up into the back of their skulls, so much so that we fail to realise that mash-ups can actually be good. And yes, ‘Skills In Pills’ is one of those albums where the result is actually good, for more unique reasons than one would think.
The title track really drops the hammer as the album opens, chugging overproduced guitars overlay a hard-worked synthesised effort that really represents some fine production and songwriting from Tägtgren, albeit borrowing many musical elements such as the groove of Pain and the atmosphere of Hyprocrisy. Musically that is much of the album, and doesn’t diversify much with a standard construct bearing in each of the 10 songs: heavy choruses lain with orchestras and synths, verses that stay relatively consistent and big build ups. It all stays pretty standard, but well constructed – a sentence that should probably the generic motto for a German / Swedish collaboration.
It’s when the album moves into ‘Ladyboy‘ that things start to become very interesting and venture into unique territory, and that is the lyrical output of Lindemann that remains side-stitchingly brilliant throughout the album. Growing up in East Germany where the way of life could get pretty interesting in terms of what there was to do for fun, Lindemann has decided now is the time to not hold back and sing about everything and nothing, basically whatever is on his mind. The album title ‘Skills In Pills‘ is about how people got high in East Germany using prescription drugs, the song ‘Fat‘ about an unrelenting love of sex with fat women, ‘Golden Shower’ about, well, a golden shower and ‘Praise Abort‘ about a hatred of absolutely everything. There are no metaphors, symbolism or recurring themes in the lyrics – the words are straight up and as blunt as an axe, something so rarely seen in metal music that when it does happen, and if executed correctly, is genius.
The album is worth getting purely to listen to the ramblings of Till Lindemann, but is impressive in the sense that Peter Tägtgren has taken this side project seriously despite the fact it was actually born on shots of Jägermeister. ‘Skills In Pills‘ is by no means a musical masterpiece, but it’s a unique piece that overshot our expectations of a simple Rammstein / Pain mash-up. An album that if you played it to your friends, there would be eyebrows raised all around, but it’s so entertaining that anyone could get into it.
[verdict]Yes[/verdict]
[why]Musically it’s the Rammstein / Pain mash-up we were all expecting, but the use of humour and satire in the album make it a piece truly worth investing in![/why]
