Neue Deutsche Härte

It’s hard for me to consider several of the newer albums by Crematory, since they’re a band I was actually able to follow from their very early steps up to a certain point where I largely gave up on them only listening to their newer albums by chance or to review them. The long standing Germans, that will have been around for thirty years next year, have rather recently suffered the exit of several member, by now, leaving only singer Felix and the Jüllich couple (drums and keys), as original members.
 

Hmm… am I qualified to even do this, I wonder…?! I guess Rammstein is a world known and renowned band, one of the pioneering bands of the Neue Deutsche Härte subgenre of rock. Their industrial militant style might owe a great deal to forerunners of the style like Laibach and especially Oomph!, but whereas Laibach is a band that has a more selective appeal (to quote Spinal Tap) after being embraced by a famous Hollywood director, the Germans just exploded.

Returning with a new album, after 4 years, and under a new label, the German pioneering band of the Neue Deutsche Härte movement (that has deeply influenced Rammstein), Oomph! have somehow renewed themselves with “Ritual” by mixing their past with their contemporary sound.