Emigrate: “Silent So Long”
2 min read
“Silent So Long,” is the 2nd album released by Rammstein’s guitarist Richard Kruspe, under the Emigrate moniker. It’s a follow up to the 2007 self-titled debut Emigrate and begs the question; there was a first album? I will say, right off the bat, that “Silent So Long” is fantastic, especially for those that love that driving and haunting industrial metal reminiscent of Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson and, of course, Rammstein. This is a good addition to Kruspe’s already illustrious career except that this album is in English.
The album features notable appearances by Motörhead’s very own Lemmy Kilmister, Korn’s Jonathan Davis and several others. This album feels like a kick to the head and a welcomed one at that. While I can appreciate such an eclectic group, I do feel that Lemmy struggles to find a home on this album feeling more like a Motorhead tune than anything else featured on “Silent So Long.” That being said, I’m not sure I can fault Kruspe for the addition. While the song begins awkwardly, it finishes strong (and it is Lemmy after all) so what are you going to do?
If anything, Richard Kruspe isn’t afraid of keeping the listener a little off balance by making the first three tracks so front heavy with the aforementioned guest artists. However by the time we enter the song “Hypothetical” we are completely immersed into what makes Emigrate, musically, such a good ride from start to finish. Once we pass “Hypothetical” the album rides a few different thematic lines while staying very true to itself and the intent seems very solid through “Faust.”
Ending on the album’s title track “Silent So Long” with Korn’s Jonathan Davis is a marriage that is the perfect bookend to the guest heavy beginning and possibly the strongest song on the album besides “Hypothetical” in my opinion. “Silent So Long” is a haunting anthem that stays with you just long enough make you wish the album had one or two more songs on it. The album is a solid and enjoyable tryst into realms that may not have cycled into your musical rotation for quite a while. I know that I have ignored these genres recently. In any case, Emigrate’s latest definitely takes me to a place where I want to go back and explore several other albums including some from the ghosts of Rammstein’s past – but maybe only after I give Emigrate’s newest a few more listens. (The album drops December 9th. Be sure to grab your copy when it does.)
By
Paul Stamat
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