In fact, what Ramstein plays is the so-called dance metal. The term was composed specifically after the release of their debut album. It was a typical EBM (Electronic Body Music), but with a heavier sound, guitars and cosmetic elements of industrial metal. Indeed, the work of the Ramstein group differed from classical compositions of this genre in a lighter sound and focus on the general public.
However, before them there were groups that successfully mixed electronics with metal. Of those that most quickly come to mind - Oomph! - The German band most similar to Ramstein.
Oomph!
They were formed before the “Rammov” - in 1989 against 1994. Their first album was entirely related to electronic music. And on the second appeared a heavier sound, elements of industrial metal, provocative texts, but the sound was far from the real "industrial", so they came up with the Neue Deutsche Härte - the "new German heaviness". Actually, “nooy deutsche hart” and dance metal are one and the same, although the latter is used mainly by Ramstein himself in a joking manner.
According to the style and mood of Oomph music! and Rammstein are almost twins. Some difference is observed in the fact that Ramstein is deliberately trying to create the image of a group playing really heavy metal music. Oomph! but, in turn, does not forget about the "electronic" roots.
Creativity Oomph!
The most “heavy” of their albums can be considered the second Sperm and the third Defekt. Here are all the typical elements of the direction: electronic music with a dance beat and cosmetic jewelry in the form of a heavy guitar sound and industrial elements. A separate point, which, in principle, can also be called a distinguishing feature of groups playing NDH, was the provocative topics addressed in the texts: violence, mental disabilities, war, sex and so on. Their clips - and in this group is similar to Ramstein - almost all of them consist entirely of shock content, and MTV basically refuses to twist them.
The fourth album, compared to the previous ones, turned out to be neutral, because the group simply worked out a contract with the old record label in order to quickly move to a larger one.
The fourth did not remember anything special, except that its cover suspiciously resembles the cover of Mutter's Ramstein album, released three years later.
The fifth album, Plastik, was quite successful, but the sound on it has changed significantly towards more melodic and “sleek”. In the future, all subsequent albums continued to change in the same direction, all the while reducing the degree of provocative themes in the lyrics.
Oomph! perform to this day. The last album was released in 2015, there is no information about the new one yet.
Ministry
If Oomph! If they play in areas that are more relevant to electronic music, then among the real industrial there is another rock band similar to Ramstein.
Ministry started, oddly enough, with electronic music and synth-pop. Then the sound became heavier and heavier, more guitars were added to the synthesizers, and finally, in 1988, The Land of Rape and Honey appeared - one of the standards of American industrialism.
After that, several more albums are released in the same direction, only with a constant increase in the share of guitars in the overall sound. However, the most interesting moment in the Ministry’s work about how this group looks like “Ramstein” is its composition Just One Fix from the 1992 Psalm album 69: the riff surprisingly resembles the riff from Du Hast Ramstein, which is contained on their 2001 album Mutter .
It’s not plagiarism, but the unusual similarity of this, and not only this Ramstein composition (since their work is still not very rich in a variety of melodies), with the song on which the clip was shot, leads to certain thoughts.