Emigrate - A Million Degrees

I didn’t hear about this album until a few weeks before its release, but I was certainly excited to have another band I enjoy making another tentatively positive mark on 2018. Emigrate is the infrequent, English-language-based side project of Rammstein guitarist Richard Kruspe, who began the project in 2005 to pursue a style unsuited for Rammstein.

The band’s self-titled debut was released in 2007 and it was, somewhat surprisingly, one of my favorite albums of that year. It had its weak moments, but the subtly despondent “New York City” and anthemic alternative metal bangers like “Let Me Break”, “Resolution”, “Help Me”, the title track, and the B-side, “Face Down”, I had to dig through the internet for were instant favorites of mine, and I can say that it’s an album that has aged well with me. Kruspe’s vocals were the potential breaking point going into the album, but his smart choice to stay in his range and let some vocal effects give his voice character enhanced the industrially groovy edge of the band’s music.

With Kruspe redirecting his energy back to Rammstein for Liebe ist für alle daand the tour cycle that went along with it, it took another seven years after Emigrate’s debut for the sophomore album, Silent So Long, to manifest. This album was a lot more diverse than the first, partly due to the incorporation of a variety of well-integrated vocal features from the likes of Marilyn Manson, Peaches, Jonathan Davis, and Lemmy. The album’s lead single and intro track, “Eat You Alive” featuring a thrilling vocal trade-off with Seeed’s Frank Dellé at the bridge, was a bit of a different sound for the band, but a hard-rocking and pleasingly infectious tune nonetheless. The rest of the album didn’t quite reach the same levels of alternative metal grandeur that the first record did, but the diversity of styles and tastefully incorporated electronic production on songs like “Get Down” and “Hypothetical” brought the album a new and similarly exciting angle, with Kruspe’s effects-laden vocals fitting nicely again into the album’s modern, metropolitan production. Following up the unexpected success of the first record was no easy feat, but Silent So Long was certainly a respectable sophomore effort for Emigrate.

I think I’m starting to get a bit of that sixth sense with music after however many reviews I’ve done this year because as excited as I was about the prospect of a new Emigrate album in 2018, my spidey senses told me that something was going to be a little bit off. I’m not sure where that sense came from, but it wasn’t wrong; this is definitely the most mixed bag of songs from Emigrate out of their now three albums. Most of what made the first two so enjoyable is here on paper, but its the awkward way it’s sometimes arranged on that paper that lends to this album’s mild dip in quality. The production is fine again, maybe a little bit too polished and compressed this time around for my liking, but not so much that it makes the record unbearable. The band’s performances are as gelled as ever and Kruspe’s and his guests’ vocal performances are mostly well-executed and well-placed, and actually better than ever on this album. It’s the patchy and shaky songwriting this time around that sinks some parts of this album.

I’ll pull back a little and say that this is hardly a bad album; it has its moments that are tough to get through, but for the most part it’s Emigrate doing their thing pretty damn well and even showing some new flair this time around.

It seems like Kruspe got a little ambitious with tying to take Emigrate into new stylistic and compositional territory on a few of these songs, and on songs like the surprisingly bright pop rocker “You Are So Beautiful”, which reminds me of Mylo Xyloto-era Coldplay in a good way, and the booming, orchestrally supplemented intro track, “War”. We even get a taste of old-school, industrially heavy Emigrate on “Spitfire” which features an invigorating titular chant from Kruspe that hearkens to thrash gang vocals. The tail end of the album comes with a feature from Kruspe’s ever-dramatic and theatrical Rammstein bandmate, Till Lindemann, on the uniquely electronic ballad “Let’s Go”, and a rather show-stealing performance from Ghost’s frontman, Cardinal Copia, on the monumental alt metal anthem “I’m Not Afraid”. Not all the features on A Million Degrees enhance the album however. The flat songwriting doesn’t do it any favors, but the tepid meoldy of Margaux Bossieux’s verse on “Lead You On” only serves to cement the song’s status as the weakest on the album by far. The punky “1234″ is another weird style choice for the band that I don’t think was executed with quite enough competence in the style as it should have been, and Billy Talent frontman Benjamin Kowalewicz’ vocal contribution didn’t really do much to elevate the track’s intensity or tie it more closely into the style it was trying to emulate. I like the guitar work on the verses and especially the string-bending flair on the pre-chorus, but the chorus itself falls a bit flat.

Most of the other songs on the album do fall into Emigrate’s usual, albeit well-tempered, format. The subtly soaring title track shows Kruspe flexing his raspy mid register. I should also point out, the opening track, “War”, also features some impressive high notes from Kruspe that show that he’s been working on his vocals lately (which would be interesting to hear in more some intricate interplay with Lindemann’s on Rammstein’s new album next year). “Hide and Seek” is another hard-rocking, punk-beat-driven cut that sounds like something that might have fit right in on Silent So Long, and the album’s closer, “Eyes Fade Away”, is an effective self-titled-esque power ballad (which reminds me of Baroness’ “Eula” for some reason). The longest song on the album, “We Are Together”, is another example of a kind of far-fetched attempt at expanding into some new territory for the band, in this instance, an 80′s-prog lighter-waver. it’s not a terrible track by any means, but it’s definitely stretched thin over just six minutes and it’s not nearly as eventful as a track of its magnitude on this album probably should be.

I will say, this album has definitely grown on me as I’ve continued to listen to it. The first time I heard it, I absolutely hated it, but a quick recalibration of my mindset helped me shift from my initial expectation of a continuation of Silent So Long or material strikingly similar to the debut. Despite the boldness of its flaws when they do show up, A Million Degrees is another mix of tasteful and earnest modern alternative metal and a worthy and welcome addition to Emigrate’s catalog.