Information
Date: November 1999
Title: Sharpening Their Attack
Source: Hit Parader
Translation: Dutch
Press Article
Rammstein set the world-- and themselves-- on fire in 1998. The shocking success of their album, Sehnsucht-- which featured the hit single Du Hast-- and their incendiary on-stage pyrotechnics helped catapult these German metal masters to the very pinnacle of the international rock circuit. Before they had completed their historic blitzkrieg on the world's rock and roll souls, they had won countless industry awards and press accolades for their inventive use of unconventional instrumentation, and garnered the respect of many for their reluctance to sing in anything other than their native Teutonic tongue. Yet for all their recent accomplishments, it is now time for vocalist Till Lindemann, guitarist Paul Landers, keyboardist Flake Lorenz, bassist Oliver Riedel, guitarist Richard Kruspe and drummer Christoph Schneider to prove themselves all over again.
Even as you read this, the Rammstein brigade is hard at work in a highly secret European studio location, putting the finishing touches on their next disc, an album that promises to deliver more of the unrelenting hard rock rhythms and quixotic musical twists that first helped rocket the band to world-wide acclaim. But for those of you who may now believe that these proudly Germanic forces will finally "come to their senses" and present much of their new material with a decidedly more "American-friendly" flavor-- i.e. English lyrics-- you'd better think again! In fact, according to those in-the-know, if anything, this Ramming Stone's next effort will be even more exotic, more challenging and more unpredictable than its platinum-covered predecessor.
"We don't try to be different, we are different," Flake said through his interpreter. "We see no reason to change anything about wwhat we do in the hopes of attracting a bigger audience. We don't necessarily want a bigger audience-- we want people who enjoy our music and our show."
What is it about Rammstein that allowed them to succeed where so many other foregin acts had previously failed? After all, what was the last hard rock act to sing in a language other than English that managed to conquer American shores? You'd have to scratch your head for a long, long time before coming up with an answer to that one! Even earlier German acts, most notably the Scorpions, believed from Day One that to win over the world's rock fans they had to perform in the World's Official Musical Language...English. But bending their ideals to meet the supposed demands of the world's music populace had never been even a consideration in Rammstein's oft-twisted psyche. Having overcome so many obstacles to rise form their East German roots (starting out even before The Wall came tumblin' down) to effectively win over the affections of the entire rock scene, these guys certainly saw no reason to change anything for anyone.
"Rammstein's success is truly remarkable," said one noted East Coast industry insider. "I remember getting an advance of their album, and being both amused and intrigued by the audacity of a band to refuse to sing in English. I could almost expect that from a band on one of those small indie European labels, but Rammstein was on a major-- and they were already a big deal in Europe. I had to applaud their character, even though I was totally surprised by how big they actually became."
With Sehnsucht selling over 600,000 copies the U.S., and well over a million world-wide, and their recent Live Aus Berlin in-concert collection enjoying chart topping status, Rammstein certainly ranks among the true rock and roll success stories of the late '90s. But how did they manage to overcome so many potentioal pitfalls on their way to international fame and fortune? The answer to such a question is relatively simple; rather than depending solely on their German-sung lyrics to convey their rock and roll message, or count on their "through our interpreters" interviews to fully communicate their inner-most feelings, Rammstein have chosen to use everything contained within their impressive performing arsenal to accomplish the task of raising their personality profile. Their appearnce, their attitude, their stage show and their unpredictable volatile sound are just a few of the means through which this highly inventive unit has effectively rewritten the rock and roll rule book. And now with their new disc on its way, it seems that Rammstein are more determented than ever to accomplish all of their goals... and do it their way.
"We know that many more people will be ilstening to this album," Lindemann explained. "The last time we seemed to come from nowhere to succeed. This time many more people will know about us right fom the moment the record comes out. But we enjoy that kind of pressure. It makes us work a little bit harder and really concentrate on what we're trying to do with our music. We're not content to just create music that is similar to what we did last time. That success motivates us-- but it will not limit us in any way."
Throughout their new disc, powerful guitar riffs blend with haunting keyboard passages and an array of bells, whistles and techno-bleeps to create what has fast become known to the group's legion of fans as teh "Rammstein Sound." Unconventional, unnerving and unyielding, the band's latest disc picks up where its predecessor left off, and then carries the group's music to previously unchartered musical terrain. Once again, Rmmstein prove that just when you think you may have them figured out, they go and throw you a musical curve ball of major league proportions. In fact, if you didn't know better, you might actually think that these guys were being decidedly different on purpose, perhaps just to get a rise out of the often jaded fans they've encountered as they've traveled throughout America and Europe. Come to think of it... maybe they are.
"We enjoy the kind of reactions we've gotten from American fans," Flake said. "When we first started playing live in America, you could see that many of the people didn't know what to make of us. They didn't understand what we were trying to do. When Till set himself on fire, you could actually see looks of horror on some people's faces. They didn't know where reality left off and fantasy began-- that is the magic of Rammstein."