Emigrate – Emigrate

Solo Venture

People may assume that Emigrate’s Self-Titled Emigrate is just a vanity side project that will sound a lot like founding member Richard Zven Kruspe’s main band Rammstein. While Krupe’s status as a musician likely didn’t hurt Emigrate getting their music out there, his history also creates pre-conceived notions in the listener. Amazingly though this isn’t some watered down version of the original, it is an animal all its own. The first few songs from Emigrate’s self titled album, like “Emigrate”, “Wake Up’” and “My World” feature melodic vocals over pounding industrial rhythms, reminiscent of Fear Factory and, of course, Rammstein. Even the cover art has a distinctly Rammstein feel to it. At track four things start to really get interesting. Suddenly Emigrate becomes its own distinct band with the song “I Will Break” which has a slower, less aggressive, modern rock sound. All of the melody is intact but the rhythm has a more groovy, Deftones-inspired quality and the guitars are actually played without distortion during a good majority of the song. It interesting to hear Kruspe sing, though his vocals are not as dynamic as Till Lindemann from Rammstein, his voice does have a smooth radio-friendly quality to it. The rest of the album, including “In My Tears”, ‘New York City’ and “Temptation” follow in this same vein of catchy but not derivative modern rock music that conjures thoughts of Linkin Park and Depeche Mode. Hints of the Kruspe’s “main” band do peek through, especially in the driving bass guitar, but that is to be expected from someone who has written music for Rammstein for almost twenty years.

Fans seeking the same gritty, heaviness of Rammstein maybe disappointed with Emigrate but those seeking to expand their horizons with melodic modern rock will surely be happy with Emigrate’s latest offering.