Combichrist Prank

It's not often you see handicam footage from onstage with Rammstein, but of course Combichrist are a tad more privileged than most Rammstein fans:



[discuss]

Going Beach

I'm heading out of town in a couple of days. I'm leaving my house by the beach, surrounded by beach houses, and beach, and I'm driving three hours up the island, to another beachy house, surrounded by beach houses and beach. Funny how that works.

Basically, while my beach has a ten meg' cable connection the other beach has no fixed line and no cellular coverage, so I will be distinctly offline.

I do plan to do some writing however, and will post when I get back.

As an aside, I have NO idea what FEARNet is, but they like our boys, apparently.

[discuss]

Heitmann for Haifisch

Only the other day I tweeted to another Rammstein fan that I was hoping for Jörn Heitmann to be commissioned for the next Rammstein video, and what do you know, my wish has been granted! This is great news.

Thanks to theonemcp for pointing this one out.

[discuss]

Help!

I am trying to compile a complete list of Rammstein websites. If you know of any that are not in the list below please contact me or comment here.

Я стараюсь, чтобы составить полный список сайтов, Rammstein. Если вы знаете те, которые не в приведенном ниже списке, пожалуйста свяжитесь со мной или комментарии. Просьба также простите меня. Я перевел с английского помощью Google Language Tools.

Staram się sporządzić kompletny wykaz stron internetowych poświęconych zespołowi Rammstein. Jeśli znasz jakieś, które nie są uwzględnione na poniższej liście proszę o kontakt lub komentarz - thanks to Hans for the correct translation

私はRammsteinウェブサイトの完全なリストをコンパイルしようとしています。がある場合は、以下のリストにない、私に連絡、またはここにコメントしてください知っている。してくださいまた、失礼します。私は英語からGoogleの言語ツールを使用し、この翻訳。

Аз се опитвам да се състави пълен списък на уебсайтове Рамщайн. Ако знаете на всякакви, които не са в списъка по-долу моля свържете се с мен или коментар тук. Моля също така ме извините. Аз превел от английски използвате Google Езикови настройки.

Snažím se sestavit kompletní seznam webových stránek Rammstein. Pokud víte o všech, které nejsou v seznamu níže prosím, kontaktujte mě nebo komentář zde. Také prosím omluvte mě. Já si to z angličtiny pomocí Google Jazykové nástroje.

내가 Rammstein 웹사이트의 전체 목록을 컴파일하려고입니다. 있으면 아래 목록에없는 사람들이 날에 문의하거나 여기에 덧글을 알아 주시기 바랍니다. 또한 실례합니다. 나는 영어에서 Google 언어 도구를 사용하여이 번역.

Próbálok összeállítani egy teljes listát Rammstein websites. Ha tudod, olyan, amelyek nem szerepelnek az alábbi listában, kérjük lépjen kapcsolatba velem vagy comment here. Kérjük, bocsásson meg. Én az angol fordítás a Google segítségével pár perc alatt.

Es cenšos sastādīt pilnu sarakstu Rammstein websites. Ja jūs zināt visu, kas nav šajā sarakstā, lūdzu, sazinieties ar mani vai komentēt šeit. Lūdzam arī excuse me. Es rehabilitācijas no angļu, izmantojot Google Language Tools.

我尝试编译的战车网站的完整列表。如果您知道任何在下面的列表中没有请与我联系，或在这里评论。还请原谅。我翻译的英文本使用谷歌语言工具。

Я прагну, щоб скласти повний список сайтів, Rammstein. Якщо ви знаєте ті, які не в наведеному нижче списку, будь ласка зв'яжіться зі мною або коментарі. Прохання також вибачте мене. Я переклав з англійської допомогою Google Language Tools.

मैं Rammstein वेबसाइटों की एक पूरी सूची के संकलन की कोशिश कर रहा हूँ. यदि आप किसी भी है कि नीचे दी गई सूची में कृपया मुझे संपर्क करें या यहाँ टिप्पणी नहीं कर रहे हैं पता है. कृपया यह भी मुझे माफ करना. मैंने अंग्रेजी से अनुवाद गूगल भाषा उपकरण का उपयोग कर.

* Affenknecht.com (R+EU as was) - MANY
* DasSchoensteKind.de - DEU
* Herzeleid.com - ENG/DEU
* Mutter.ru - RU
* Neo-Rammstein.com - FRA
* Official Rammstein Site
* PlanetRammstein.com - FRA
* Rammchen.net - JPN
* RammImages.com - ENG
* Ra.mmste.in - ENG (this site)
* RammsteinBrasil.com.br - POR
* RammsteinChile.foroactivo.com - SPA
* RammsteinClub.com - SPA
* Rammstein.com.uy - SPA
* RammsteinFan.hu - HUN
* RammsteinFan.ru - RUS
* Rammstein-HQ.com - FIN
* Rammstein.it - ITA
* Rammstein-Online.com - ENG
* Rammstein.ru - RUS
* RammsteinWorld.com - FRA
* Rammstein-Austria.com - DEU
* Rammstein-Portugal.com - POR
* Rammstein-Serbia.com - SR
* Rammstein-Stripped.com - SPA
* Rammstein.nl - NLD
* Rammstein.ro - RON
* Rammstein.se - SWE
* Rammstein.com.mx - SPA
* RammsteinNicCage.com - ENG
* RammsteinTR.com - TUR
* RFan.de - DEU
* RKult.com - SPA
* RockClan.ucoz.ru - RUS
* Rosenrot.ca - ENG
* Sehnsucht.dk - DAN
* Zerstoren.myfreeforum.org - ENG
* Zwitter.ru - RUS


This is a mad punt. This is the same thing in a random range of languages from Google Language Tools (apart from the Polish). I really hope people will help! Sorry if the above has butchered your language...

ReGen Mag Interviews Paul

There's a rather a good interview with Paul here. It would seem the reasoning that lead me to think the next video is Roter Sand was off the mark, and there's an interesting revelation regarding Liese. Enjoy.

[discuss]

Metal Hammer Hungary Interviews Paul

For those of you who don't read Herzeleid, morlac has translated and posted there a really good interview with Paul. He has very kindly given me permission to reproduce it here. This is his translation with corrections to the English. Though I was given a free rein with this I have kept my corrections to parts where I fully get the intended meaning:

According to the news, you started to work on this record in 2007. What took you so long?

The making of a Rammstein album is never an easy task. It takes a lot of time till things come together. On the one hand, we like to do an extensive job, and on the other, we are six totally different people. We can hardly agree on the style and the direction, but this is public, so this time too the process took one more year than we expected. The idea was we would write the songs all together in the fitting room, unlike the last two albums. That's all very well, but we haven't worked like this before. We had become unused to each other. We had to get used to writing the songs without being separated into small groups, but the whole band together. But to do this we first had to put away our egos and forget our past problems. We had to clear our relationships with each other. Until that was done we couldn't start the work. We had too many ideas and it just made the task weightier. If we had wanted to work out all of our new ideas we would be still in the fitting room. We had to sort things out, and determine priority. Sometimes we felt like the work buried us and we wouldn't ever finish this record.

Approximately how many song ideas did you have?

It's enough to say we had to throw away 30 song ideas. And there were some very good ideas amongst them! It was very hard to pick the songs that we wanted to finish. We started to work with approximately 20 songs. When the picture became a bit clearer we all relaxed a bit. Then came our producer, and because he was satisfied with our themes another big stone was lifted from our hearts. Until that we were totally lost. At the end we weren't even sure about the chosen 20 songs, whether they were good enough or not. If I think it through, none of our discs were as hard to make as this.

When you joined together before the work did you declare some direction for yourselves?

Well, yes, but at same time we wanted to work intuitively. Let the songs evolve, and do not stress about styles, hardness, softness, etc. Basically we wanted a harder, heavier album than the last one.

It is possible that the remaining songs will be released on a next CD as in the case of Rosenrot?

No way. We don't want to use the remaining songs that way. We didn't even finish them. The case with Reise, Reise was different. There those songs which didn't get a place on the album were already finished, recorded, and mixed. At that time we planned to release another CD in the near future, a second part, a sequel, what would contain the leftovers.

Now there is no plan like this. Honestly, we wanted to get our contract over with Rosenrot, so that's why we needed to release another album in a short time, and the prime songs were already used.

Why did you record LIFAD in the USA?

Because we have never worked there before. We tried some places in Europe. We enjoyed them all but we didn't want to go back to any of them. We desired new adventures, and it works well if we are working far away from home, the family, and the publisher. We realized long ago that we can work more intensively this way. Initially we didn't think about the USA. First we wanted to work on an island in Greece, but that studio was under construction and they didn't finish it in time.

What do you think, is it noticeable where the album was recorded?

No. This has no effect to the songs, to the feeling, because we go to the studio with finished material only. It would take twice as much time for the recording process if we experimented there, reformed songs, or even wrote new ones. It's hard enough to work without this too. If we arrive at studio with a finished song there are less problems.

Jacob Hellner was your producer again, as always. Don't you think about trying somebody else?

Jacob is an excellent producer. Our relationship with him is great, and he can handle the band well too, but it's become a routine to always work with him. We thought about this, especially at the beginning, but then he helped so much with his appearance and he put hope into us, so we didn't think about it any more. Without him and his group this disc wouldn't be done yet.

It's quite surprising that a successful band like Rammstein can suffer from the lack of self-confidence before recording a new album…

We are such shy guys. (laughs) We worried about things that we shouldn't. Jacob told us we shouldn't fix something what isn't broken, and he is always right. We have achieved much more with this band than we dreamed of. It helps too that Jacob isn't German. He is Swedish. Especially working with Till.

How you mean? I don't understand.

Jacob doesn't speak German. He doesn't understand Till's lyrics. He doesn't care about what he sings about. For him, Till's voice is just an instrument that he has to place in the picture. They can work together very well, although Till isn't a simple person. Somehow at the rehearsals Till’s voice isn't so good as in the studio. We also like that Jacob is a workaholic. If there is work he doesn't know anything about switching off, resting, not even a free weekend! At the beginning of Rammstein we had the luck to work with a British producer called Greg Hunter, who didn't do anything, just lay on his sofa in a half-coma. Sometimes he slept too. We tried not to wake him up with our uproar, but at the same time we thought he isn't the person we need.

How did you start to work with Jacob?

At the time the first Clawfinger album, Deaf Dumb Blind, was fresh; it had a great sound what we all liked. We saw on the cover that the producer was Jacob Hellner so we decided to work with him. Our publisher contacted him and he came to Hamburg to meet with us. We did a spree and when he said he hated Marshalls. We immediately knew we had found our man. We wanted an individual sound, different from the other bands.

In the song Haifisch you squarely alluded to Bertold Brecht’s "beggar-opera”, and before you have quoted Goethe. Is this a culture mission? The spreading of the German culture?

When this band launched the Wall in Berlin just come down, and everyone felt shame because of the past. Nowadays the situation is better, but still there are many people who feel shame because they are German, and we would like this to fade out, to show our values. We don't have to be ashamed that we are Germans. This is just a fact. The German culture isn't better than the others, but it's ours. We grew up with that.

In the case of Jacob, its a positive thing that he doesn't understand Till’s lyrics, but for the masses the biggest appeal of Rammstein is the thought-provoking, sometimes playful, sometimes provocative lyrics.

This is true especially for Germany, but we have fans all around the world, and most of them understand our lyrics only if they use dictionaries, because they aren't German. Many people like the sound of the German language, and they think it fits well with our music, and it's true singing in German is very hard. I mean in the rock genre. But of course for the hit songs it is possible! (laughs) And the basic philosophy of Rammstein is we are primarily playing music for ourselves. When we write songs, when Till creates song lyrics, we don't even talk about the question of the success and the money. We are such selfish bastards, that's the truth! (laughs) We don't thank to our fans when they buy our CDs or listen to our songs. We create something the best way we can. We like the issue. Everything else is just a bonus for us. The butcher doesn't thank you either, if you buy some frankfurters from him. Think about it. You go to him because you like the frankfurters, and not because you want to help him out, and you know you won't get bad meat. This is the case with Rammstein too. If you like the music then you buy it, copy it, download it, and listen to it. There is nothing about this that we have to thank them for.

Of course we like that there are many people who like us, but we would write the same music, we would shoot the same music videos, if we had only 12 fans, because we play primarily for ourselves. The fans will vainly demand that we make an album like this or like that. Deciding things like this is not their business. If they don't like the new CD then they will go and listen to another band. This time we wanted to make a heavier record, and this has overlapped with the demands of most of the fans, but this record would be the same if they wanted to something totally different. It's the same with Till’s lyrics.

I think it's a very big task to get agreement with all six members, right?

Right. We are not alike. We are six people, and we have almost nothing in common except the music. This is the only thing that holds us together. But of course we can laugh a lot. Sometimes we enjoy each other’s company a lot, but in the musical aspect, in ideology we are not the same, but somehow this is okay I think.

About the music: first there is the conservative part. They wouldn't change anything. They are like the AC/DC fans. They get confused by even the smallest changes. (laughs) If they ran the band we would still make the same style music as on the debut Herzeleid album in 1995. And there is the other section. They always want to turn Rammstein topsy-turvy. If they ruled that would lead to a catastrophe too! The people out there would be just shocked at each of our releases. The hardest part is to find the middle path, to reform ourselves within the frame of Rammstein, without losing our individuality.

So what do you think about LIFAD?

Heavier, harder, more raw. The aggressive energy of the old Rammstein has appeared on this record again, but without turning back to the dancy/industrial world that marked us before. A lot of fresh inspiration came from current metal music. I like the harder themes too, and our drummer LOVES the brutal music. If he dominated all our songs would be full of doublering. (laughs) He loves bands like Dimmu Borgir or Meshuggah. He’d like to form an extreme metal band from Rammstein. That wouldn't be a good idea, and it's also impossible because we are six people and we would pull Rammstein in six directions.

Let's talk about the new scandal-video, Pussy! Where did you get the idea to make a porn clip?

I often ask myself this now too! (laughs) There wasn't a lot of brainstorming behind this. Once the disc was done and we sat down with the publisher they suggested we do it the typical, old-fashioned way. This means the first clip should be a typical Rammstein song to send a signal to our fans that we are back and we have a new album, but we all found this boring. Our idea was to pick the most atypical song and make a video for it that would catch everyone's attention. Let's shake up the system! It seemed the best choice was the poppy disco hit song Pussy. What should we do with a song titled Pussy? We already knew we wanted to work with Jonas Åkerlund, so we sent him the song. He replied some hours later and he said he had an idea: "What would happen if he filmed a porn clip for this?” We said yes immediately! We didn't even think about what we'd got into…

Did you regret it? According to the news six and half million people saw it just in the first week…

There is not doubt as to the effectiveness of the advertisement, but I'm not sure about whether it's good for us in the future or not. Even the shooting was vulgar, and after we saw the final product we just looked out from our heads.

How was the clip made? They montaged your heads onto the bodies of some porn actors?

What do you think?

Somehow I don't think you would act in real porn scenes.

Me neither! (laughs) Although there are some people in the band who stick to that, they are visible during the whole video. (laughs)

What did the publisher say?

Of course the first reaction was they don't have anything to do with this thing! (laughs) I wouldn't say they liked the idea, but they think with their own logic, and they didn't have any idea about what could be done with a video what won't be transmitted on TV, and it can't be uploaded on YouTube either! Their main problem was this. We already knew we would introduce the new clip on a well-attended hardcore porn site, and the plan came to fruition. But from that time our familiars, friends, and even our families looked at us strangely. This thing that seemed to be a great idea isn't great any more after the scandal, but of course this isn't a thing that we all agree about. Some of the members are starting to be sick to death of the constant scandals that accompany our activities. It would be good to concentrate into the tour, playing music, but it's hard this way.

I can understand the disapproval of one of my best friends. His nine year old son is a very big Rammstein fan, and he and his friend of course watched the video. My best friend says what we did with this video was hugely irresponsible. He said he has no clue about marketing, advertisements, etc, but he is very angry because his son watched filth like this. And unfortunately I couldn't really respond to this.

He also spoke about the albums:

Herzeleid – 1995

We first met before the release of the debut album, but most of us knew each other because the rock scene of East-Germany wasn't so big. After the wall crashed Germany could be united again, and this gave us many opportunities, but at the same time all of the West's bands fell onto us, so we had to recover. There was a short time when we wanted to join the trends, like for example grunge, but in a short time we realized it would be stupid to do that. Then we decided we didn't want to join the mainstream. We didn't want to join the American bands. We would be a true German band with German lyrics! It is clear we are much stronger this way. We put our origins in the window. We worked with a German mentality. We built in some German Folk elements, but we left space for the classic rock and for the industrial effects like Ministry. So Rammstein was born with this debut. Our shows were successful already, and we got help from a multi.

Sehnsucht – 1997

Between us we felt Rammstein could be successful in America too, but it was hard to reassure our publisher. There simply wasn't a precedent. With German lyrics no one could be successful out there. We had to find those who could potentially believe in this. We had some very good shows before the release of the new album, so we could get into the collective arena tour of Korn and Limp Bizkit. We were at the best place at the best time! (laughs!) American radio broadcast Rammstein more and more and on top of that our singer worked out that we should play on the stage with a gigantic pyro show, and it had great effect! First he just started to blow up some crackers during the instrumental parts, but later his brain flew off! Till used to joke about how we can thank the pyro for our success (laughs). Once we were arrested in America because of our obscene act on the stage with our keyboardist…

Mutter – 2001

For me, the Mutter is our best material. I love the music itself, plus I have a lot of nice memories about the recording. We recorded it in the south of France, in a very calm place. The environment was dreamy and we felt guilty because we felt so good ourselves while working (laughs). And you can feel on the album this good mood. If you compare it to the previous albums it's totally different. This material brought a total break-through to us! Thanks to the successful American tour more and more people started to believe Rammstein could be successful all around the world, not only in Germany. Finally we could reach the UK too! It was funny to see the faces there. They tried to sing along with us, but they didn't have any idea what the lyrics were. (laughs) I will be honest, we didn't expect this. On the record you can find my two favourite songs, Sonne and Links 2 3 4. With the Links 2 3 4 we wanted to say we have nothing to do with politics, but as always there are some people who misunderstand the lyrics.

Reise, Reise - 2004

The success of Mutter depented the band a bit, and when Richard tried to take control the harmony dissolved. We had serious internal problems. We even spoke about breaking up! Then he started his own project, and the harmony came back. We recorded this in the south of Spain, to get out of the usual environment and to shake together again. At that time Richard moved to New York. He calmed down, and the democracy came back. We wrote the song Amerika just for fun, but the war in Iraq gave a totally different meaning to it. Some people took it amiss. Why did we make fun of them if they are fighting for us too? What can I say to this? This really was a political song, but with a lot of humour! Our another scandal song was Mein Teil, based on that cannibal story, but this is merely real life. We just wrote a song about what we saw in the news, but of course we brought to the stage a huge cauldron to "cook” someone…

Rosenrot – 2005

This record is a sequel to Reise, Reise, but more a medley. It had some songs from the Mutter era, from previous eras, and of course some new songs too. I don't reckon this as a real Rammstein album. It is in our main discography but somehow it isn't. For me, it's simply Reise, Reise vol. II. Some very surprising material got placed on it, with some experimental themes. We thought it can take everything, because it's already a miscellaneous album. In the song SNVM we worked with the singer from Texas, Sharleen Spiteri. She has fantastic voice but at the end it isn't really Rammstein, if you understand. These collective works can be very exciting and interesting, but the Rammstein sound is so special, so twitting to these six people, the final product will immediately be strange if someone joins us. But this material was good for take a rest for a year. We didn't even talk with each other very much in that time.

LIFAD – 2009

The long break was good for the band, but there were some people amongst us who wanted to take one more year! (laughs) But some of us burned in desire to play music, to write new songs, and of course to go on tour. It was hard to start. This record was made in two years. But we didn't have a time limit. There was one time where we had a six week break after two weeks of work! (laughs) But I can proudly say, this is one of our best records. First of course the song Pussy caught everyone's attention, with its porn clip, but the song about Josef Fritzl, Wiener Blut, is much harder. It's not like Mein Teil part II. It's musically total different, more experimental. It's scary. It's like a short horror movie. It was very hard to give birth to this record, but it was worth the suffering. During the recording we even discussed how the democracy in the band isn't always a good way. The task should be done and for that, sometimes, we need a leader.

Again, huge thanks to morlac. Google Language Tools simply doesn't cut it, and it's really nice to have a proper translation.

[discuss]

Christmas

Happy Christmas to Rammstein, Pilgrim Management, and to my lovely readers. I hope you have a great time, relax, spend time with the people you most want to be with, and stay safe.

I'm having the strangest Christmas ever. It's Christmas day in New Zealand, but Christmas Eve is the big one for me. I was here last night, writing for this site, instead of being with my family (work commitments), and it somehow doesn't feel like Christmas at all. It seems like any other day to me, except very, very quiet. A time to think, write, create, and play video games? Maybe. I've never felt so unsure of what to do with my time!

I guess I can do whatever I want, so now I have to decide what I want to do...

[discuss]

Tilting at Demons

Now, here's something for the fan-girls to take home to their mothers:


Oh yeah, Lindemann to the core. I've previously described this man as a medieval fortress with charisma, a fleshy tank, fist-like, and an intellectual TARDIS, but I've never called him beautiful. I think he is in this video, almost definitely because of the post-production work, possibly because of the careful lighting, probably because he's putting a lot of effort to make bedroom eyes throughout. Either way, well done!

Now I need to post the lilac eyes picture, just because it's so damned absurd. I'm sorry, but after my teenage explorations into romantic fiction, with the inane fixation such authors have with oddly-coloured eyes, this strikes me as funny. I can't think of a less Mills & Boon-ish figure than this:



Something I commented on in an earlier post was how the mishap with Till's cheek-piercing lead to some rather unnecessary mirroring, so they could light him on one side and hide the wire going into his mouth on the other. Here is where they took it to an extreme, yet made no effort to disguise it by masking his distinctive scarring - duh:



Another right royal balls-up was with the split tongue idea. Now, the human tongue is a nasty article, but it has certain physical properties that you can't ignore, such as depth, also known as thickness. I don't care to speculate on the career of Lindemann's tongue, but I have doubts that it is in fact one pixel thick, don't you?



Yes, enough of that now.









The production values were high in this video, on the whole. The lilac eyes, 2D tongue, and the twinned plasma were the only glaring faults I found. Yes, twinned plasma. You know the Tesla coil and how it makes lightning, right? If you don't then google is your friend. Go read about it. Anyway, the fact is that plasma is a bit like snowflakes...sort of. Whether or not that makes sense (sorry) it does not appear in the same form over and over again. This can only happen under the influence of a tired, or possibly lazy, post-production gimp:




Yes, you are seeing the same plasma animation moving up those two Tesla towers. Oopsy-daisy.

The last two stills are shots of Till's mic'. The first one is rather classy, being his Mein Teil mic' from the Reise Reise tour:



Cool! We all liked that mic', because it went with the master butcher costume and the lovely blood-toned costmetics Till wears so well. The other mic' is something a bit different:



Oh now, Till, that's just manky, man. You don't know where that's been. Grubby bastard.

Anyway, here endeth the nitpicking. The next, and probably last installment of my review will be all about the less quantifiable aspects of the video. If you can stand more of my ruminations check back in the next few days.

[discuss]

In Pursuit of Trivia

Okay, this is an exercise in illustration, as I don't really think I can describe what you're seeing better than a screen-dump, so bring on the pictures! (Click them for bigger versions)


There are a lot of nice little details in the Ich Tu' Dir Weh video. One that really caught my eye was Schneider's drumstick trickery. He does a couple if nice little moves, and as nobody really gets to see him live I felt this should be highlighted:

Another thing that leapt out at me was how utterly gorgeous Olli looks. He's a good-looking dude on a bad day, and enhances that by being a bit of a closed book, but come on, this is just mad. CK model, anyone?

For random trivia you can't go past Schneider's feet, Richard's hand, or Paul's hide. I give you some great icons: Converse, Emigrate, and shurikens:



Another shot of Schneider that really tickled me was part of the bridge seizure-fest interleaved with Lindeman face-time. Since photos have been coming out of him with the long hair-do I've wondered what he'd look like with a beard, perhaps sporting a spiffing crown of thorns, and maybe a martyred look. Do you get my drift? Well whoever edited together this epileptic's nightmare obviously had the same thought. Christoph wins the Most Christ-like Award of 2009.

Now comes a run of Flake-loving. The man has that certain something. He's all personality and madness on stage. There's no ignoring Herr Doktor. What really got me pulling faces this time around was how damned evil he can appear. There's something about that rictus of a grin that makes me think of paper-clips and rubber bands around the ears, pulling the lips back.

Then there's the big ookie Flake-finger thingie he's got going on:









I don't know about you, but that just gives me the willies. It also opens up all sorts of possibilities in the boudoir... Go Flake!

He has some electrifying moments in the video, which I'll touch on next, but I have to raise the lovely keyboard effect first. Did you notice the glow? It's subtle and not pervasive, so I'm guessing a lot of people will have over-looked it in the madness of that editing, but it rocked me completely. It's definitely a highlight in my geeky little video experience, and I have to share the goods with you (note the normal finger size):


The aforementioned Flake-zappage rocks. He takes a full-body jolt near the end, but before that he gets a shot from the rear, which make me laugh out loud, because it reminded me of nothing so much as Bück Dich.


My last little Flakage is one you probably won't see unless you pause the playback at exactly the right moment. It was completely random luck that I found it at all. I was just pausing at random for the last closing stanza and landed on this baby - Flakey-no-legs:


You're probably wondering where Till is. This is, after all, a site centred around the Lindemann creature. I have some shots and words on this subject to share, but they, and a couple of blunders from the post-production team, will be forth-coming in the next installment.

God, I do go on...

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Yep, it's Coming...

I am going to write up the next part of the ITDW video review. I had a longer day at work than expected, and then realised I hadn't eaten all day, so forgive me for feeding the beast before I feed the website...

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Don't Throw Down The Gauntlet

Good manners don't cost a thing. In fact, showing appreciation pays off in good will and respect, amongst other things. Recently a blog (NSFW as of posting this) dedicated to Rammstein made the mistake of plagiarising a post from The Gauntlet, without credit, marking it as a re-post, or any other sign of respect. This is called 'throwing down the gauntlet', and is just rude. The upshot is she (even worse) embedded TG-hosted images directly, so he was able to hax her site content. Shot.

As it turns out she has directly ripped a number of pieces directly from other people's sites, including the Gauntlet. Cheeky!

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Rammaging Through

I have been rummaging through the Ich Tu' Dir Weh video for the last half hour, and have some stills to illustrate things I noticed after watching the video a few times streaming. It took me ages to click onto the illegitimate treasures of YouTube, after watching the damned thing streaming until now. The trouble is it's almost 1 AM and I'm spent. I'll write up part three of my video analysis in the morning.

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Nitty Gritty

Did you read my LIFAD review on TG? If not here's the Ich Tu' Dir Weh bit:

The ecstatic pain of one of my favourite tracks opens with a waveform from Flake, which quickly drops into a (classic) hard riff via the drums. The rhythm is basic, but lively. It's like a heartbeat, and I don't just mean the primary beat. I also feel the little demi-beats that peek out from behind the main surge of an asymmetrical four chamber organ throbbing on and on and on...

That pulse is pervasive and relentless. The guitars, vocals, bass, and keyboards work to and around it. There is no getting away from it, and it is good. The song changes gear a few times, but the rhythm doesn't drop out. This track is riff-heavy, but is not lead by the riff. Schneider is most definitely the spine of this song. I feel it in my bones.

The chorus consists of beautiful voices undulating in and out of the rhythm. The choral melody is robust, if basic, and the layering of sound is rousing. This is a wall of sound done the right way. The verse contrasts by being fairly monotonal, which works very well.

Till pushes his voice through a range of textures. All work towards the feeling that he's trying to catch you out; lulling you slightly with full voice, all the while watching, and then pouncing with a switch to his trademark purr. The bridge is different again. He's almost in his knees, vocally speaking. There's an entreaty or pain in there, which I don't understand. I can't wait for a quality translation of these lyrics.

This is a seriously hot song though. It's oozing sex, but not in a nice wholesome way. No, that wouldn't be Rammstein at all. The sex dripping off Till's knuckles in this track is greasy, dirty, and white hot. There are plenty of promises in his voice…but they're almost entirely threats. His character is not being remotely friendly: he's definitely about to screw you in this unaffectionate but passionate encounter, but rather than being a lover you're so much meat caught in his headlamps, and it won't end well for you.

Got the idea?

Actually, I think this is the theme of the entire album. Ich Tu Dir Weh is just much more so. It's dark and hot and steamy, and I'm guessing the younger, more neurotic, heterosexual males reading this are shifting uncomfortably in their seats about now...

If you are listening to it properly it will leave you slightly breathless and entirely rapt. You may even experience the odd shiver up your spine. You'll never know quite how healthy or otherwise that is though...and there's no safety word should you seek escape.

Since I penned that I have read translatons and LILTed the song, so I will need to write a new review with the lyrics in mind at some point. That's not the focus here though. We're looking at the video for the song. The reason I have dredged up my review is the video backs up the music rather well.

I'll start at the wrong end, because the bridge and close are the most distinctively marked sections in the video. For the bridge, where Till is, vocally speaking, on his knees, the video pulls into a close-up on his face, and we get a good look at him.

His face is half in darkness, tears streak his cheeks, and those eerily pale eyes feature. The makeup is great. This is the makeup he should wear live. But the makeup is secondary to the eyes.

The eyes have made an indelible impression on me. I don't think they're achieved with lenses. I think his eyes have been desaturated and lifted in post. The saturation has definitely been messed with for the bridge itself, as the bloodshot lower eye is natural base colour with a bit of a boost, lightened slightly, while the surrounding shot has had saturation lowered. I think there's too much detail visible in the iris to be a lense too. Light simply doesn't behave the same when it's stopped at the front of the cornia. The iris is contoured and the crenelations are visible, so unless there's a new lense out that lightens the eye without opacity we're seeing Till enhanced by makeup and post production work, and nothing more invasive.

Interleaved with shots of Till are time-slipped shots of the rest of the band. They look decidedly demonic with the mad head movements and post effects. It's creepy, but effective.

You should note that they only light one side of his face (his right) during the bridge. When lighting switches to the other side they are mirroring the image. I expect the problem with the piercing is the reason for this. The scarring on Till's face makes it clear what they have done, and I'm honestly not sure why they bothered. The change in lighting direction doesn't add a damned thing to the sequence, and the mirroring is fairly obvious because Till is not a symmetrical man.

The bridge is a very emotive part of the song, but the closer that follows is pure climax, and the video goes in a frenzy of cuts, time-slipped spasms, and post effects of other kinds to convey that really nicely. Flake enveloped in lightning, Till 'swinging his dick' (dildo mic), Paul 'having what she had', etc. It all says the same thing. The explosion at the end is a little hackneyed and tacked on, but suits the orgasmic aspect.

Up until that point the song is all menace of the most sexual kind, and I now know that the lyrics bear that out in the most repellent way. The video is a little gentler, but still sweats sexual innuendo liberally. More on that in the next part.

Video provided by The Gauntlet

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Holier Than Thou

TG has a solid interest in Till's latest hole. I'm sure you noticed the cheek piercing in the new video. If you didn't then *smack* you're blind.

Wait, what? Which brow piercings..? Sorry, you're cutting out...

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Details Be Damned

I'm probably going to end up staggering my thoughts on this video. That's not a bad thing, as I have a tendency to find new perspectives in myself, but it may be a bit tiresome having it split up. I might need to repost this earlier stuff later, with a more complete review as I dump my thoughts out for you to pick through.

This video is exactly what the spiel said it would be:

Ich Tu Dir Weh" is the ultimate distillation of a RAMMSTEIN concert into five minutes.

Nothing more and nothing less. This is Rammstein stock. A reduction of their live show into a very thick and sticky syrup. Not to be taken lightly.

Aesthetically it's unreal. They all look beautiful. Olli and Till in particular are flattered beyond belief. Olli has always been a good looking guy, but in this video he's downright stunning. Till, never a pretty critter, looks beautiful in a strange and brutal way. I'm still ambivalent about RZK's do, but he's looking intensely Richard, and the other three look great in their own, very different ways.

Appearances aside this video shows them all at their most basic. The trademarked signature stuff is all there; the same stances, moves, and expressions we have come to expect, lit, framed, and recorded for our delectation, and all in self-conscious, low colour, 35 mm glory.

Till's crabbed movements and shit-eating grin, wonderfully enhanced by lights wired in through his cheek; Richard's splay-legged new-born colt stance and exaggerated playing; Flake's mad 'I've got too many joints to keep up with' activities; Paul's deadpan, minimalist approach; Olli's I'm hinged at the pelvis terminal dance moves; and Schneider's energy conserving tautness. It's all there, and it's all dished up in a fairly deliberate manner.

This is a good thing. I've read several fans complaints about performance videos, but performance is Rammstein's metier. Their stock in trade is their live show, and as wearable and addictive as their studio work is, it merely serves to populate their live set-lists when you get right down to it. Rammstein's story-driven videos are lovely. Don't get me wrong, but I do think they were well overdue on this one. The Feuer Frei video, which was a glorified movie trailer, and the other videos which have included performance elements, such as Benzin and Pussy, do provide small bites, but they're somewhat dumbed down, weak versions of the actual live show vibe. Ich Tu' Dir Weh actually conveys the pyro, the frantic pace, the energy, and the Till-based insanity rather well, and I'm glad they've finally done it.

Video provided by The Gauntlet

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A Small Slice of Pain

I'm not going to comment on the video yet. I need to watch it more than once, and while fully conscious. I also need to get out of the mindset I'm in, which is not positive or friendly in any way. I woke up angry this morning, which happens once in a blue moon.

In the meantime it should be noted that the performance Rammstein is just about to begin is the last until the try again in Luxembourg, January 31, so wish them well. Happy Christmas, strange men.

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ITDW Tease

It counted down to zero, and sat, a line of zeroes tormenting me. I F5ed, and what did I see replacing the rank of naughts? Herr Lindemann's bloodshot eyes and a new counter, once more whittling down the seconds. There is a delay on this premiere, it seems.

It's almost half past midnight here. I'm going to bed.

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Tall Till

I realise that I am probably the last Rammstein fan on the planet to work it out, i.e. watch the videos and see it, but tonight I have discovered Till's trick on the ITDW tower. If you too are a little slow on the uptake and have been amazed and astounded by Till's ability to stay put on top of that ruddy great pneumatic phallic thingie then wonder no more. They've attached a snowboard binding or similar to the thing, and he puts his right foot into it while he's battering Flake in the bath. Tricky.

I also love Flake's schmetterling-ähnlich* emergence from the bath. It's so purdy, and he's such a consummate flutterer, especially in that gorgeous suit.

* Yes, I do think I have actually managed to extrapolate what this should be. No, I still don't speak German. I just hacked it.

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Alf's Post

Ts4EVER from Herzeleid has kindly given me permission to reproduce his translation of Alf's blog post (the GLT translation is so awful):

For everyone who just has to know:

My brand new BMW lost control at a speed of 263kmh on an icy road although I had summer tires, rolled over 5 times, crashed down a hill and exploded. I flew through the air burning for 42 metres and was impaled on tree trunk. I hang up there in a height of 7metres, screaming and bleeding for 3 hours, until the helicopter arrived. But it was only a fleshwound and I came to work on time.

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A Note on Indexing

The new ITDW video and single cannot be advertised in Germany in a general way. This is part of the indexing system. If you are wondering why the video premiere information is not on the official Rammstein site then this might give a clue as to why. The official Rammstein site is a German site. It is generally accessible in Germany, without age verification or any other way to keep minors (those under 18 years of age) out. For this reason no promotion of the new single and the video debut can be posted on that site.

If you have a Twitter account please retweet 'We Have a Lift-off...Date: ITDW will premiere on Monday, 1 PM CET, 7 AM EST, and 1 AM Tuesday NZT. w00t! Go to visit-X for the ... http://bit.ly/5B65WE' from LILTwitter. Since Pilgrim Management can't promote Ich Tu' Dir Weh on their site we need to give them all the help we can to do so by any means we have at our disposal. Twitter is a good start. Push it!

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Beauty

It's official: I have found my favourite Rammstein photographer. This name is Christian Hjorth, and though I'm probably not supposed to post any of his pictures I am using my favourite as a thumbnail to link to the gallery the photo was taken for. I'm SO damned sneaky! Though, just for safety's sake, I will state for the record that, like everything on this site that I don't own, this image is copyright to its owner, Christian.

While I have been exposed to hundreds of good quality shots from the LIFAD tour already I have yet to see any that outdo Christian's work. Click on the thumbnail to see the gallery on gaffa.dk with his other photos from the show, and click here to see his website.

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Alf Speaks

Alf Ator has posted (original German here) about his little mishap on the way to work recently. I love this man. Someone introduce me to him so I can buy him a beer.

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Oh Mutter!

Please go and vote for Mutter on the front page of Metal Hammer. We need to get it further up the poll for album of the decade. As of writing this Mutter was sitting at number ten. We can do better than that!

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The Sell

"Ich Tu Dir Weh" is the ultimate distillation of a RAMMSTEIN concert into five minutes. As with the preceding video "Pussy," Jonas Åkerlund stands at the helm as director, and for "Ich Tu Dir Weh," he captures the show on the band's "rehearsal stage" in 35mm. A full-bodied format to do filmic justice to RAMMSTEIN's own brand of "widescreen" staging.

The plan was simple. Åkerlund uses the language of grand cinema, RAMMSTEIN delivers the rest: the theatre, the flesh, the frenzy. The result is formidable. "Ich Tu Dir Weh" shows the band at its purest and most concentrated. A beast, only awakened to life onstage under the spell of fire and a maddening roar. On December 21st, 2009 at 1pm CET (7am EST), "Ich Tu Dir Weh" celebrates its premiere at visit-x/rammstein.

Visit at your own risk.

Please retweet my Tweet about this. This needs the widest distribution we can give it. Pimp it, spread it, share it, and push it, please!

That time is midday GMT, Monday 21 December.

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Flake Back

Sparkie has posted on Herzeleid that Flake was on stage for the latest show, which is great news.

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RZK on Indexing - TV Interview

I'm not entirely sure he understands the reasoning behind the indexing. Provocation has nothing to do with it. I emailed the BPjM, and got back a very considered and helpful answer, and am still corresponding with their representative to get this straight in my head. What has really stood out for me so far in our email conversation was this (I hope she will forgive me paraphrasing her):

Other songs on the CD, such as the "Wiener Blut" song, did include aspects of critical reflection of the violence described, therefore this other song was altogether not found to have a harmful effect on minors.

So where Till's words show a level of criticism of the perpetrator for the act or the act itself, the harm done by the description of the act is ameliorated. To me this makes sense. This is about shaping the values of Germany's youth, after all, and propagation of criticism of an antisocial act has value that can't be ignored. While I think the photo of the spanking is rather mild it does lack that critical aspect the BPjM looks for. There is consistency in this that I had not found in their ruling until it was pointed out, as there have been songs equally depraved on past albums by Rammstein. There has also been that criticism though, so suddenly the ruling in this case and not others makes more sense.

I'm not happy about it, and I certainly don't think the image should be included in the ruling, but I don't view this decision from the BPjM with the bemusement and incredulity I felt before they returned my email. I really wish Rammstein would record a new version of this song for German release though, because it is a really excellent song, musically and expressively (TL's operatic mastery at work), and relyricising it would mean German kids can legitimately enjoy the musical and vocal performances at least.

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We Have a Lift-off...Date

ITDW will premiere on Monday, midday GMT, 1 AM NZT, 1 PM CET, 7 AM EST. w00t! Go to visit-X for the goods then.

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Crash, Bang, Wallop!

Flake got sick recently (hospitalised-sick), which had me really worried (hence the shout-out the other day). He's such a key personality on stage, and as tough as he seems a bad infection can kill a healthy man, so they wouldn't put him on if he's really sick. So who could play his part? His replacement since has been Alf Ator, of Knorkator fame. Alf has now got into a little scrape too. Thanks to TG for the heads up, and of course the inclusion of the fact that Alf is okay. Two down, none to go. Please look after your keyboardists, guys!

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More of the Chronicle

Our elephant attendant has struck again, and presents a humorous read, immediately below the first one.

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Slo'-Mo' For the Win!

TG has got bored (yes, even metal sites get bored sometimes) and has slowed down the medley teaser so we can get a good look at it. Good idea.

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More Teasers

TG has more teasers and finalised single release dates up. Now we just need that damned video...

Also, a big shout-out and get well for Flake, who has an infection that landed him in hospital recently.

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Hot Cold Hot Cold Hot...

Okay, it appears that it's all on for imminent debutage:

OK...as it stands right now. The video is in everyone's hands that need it. The video has never been intended for a Dec 18th release, it has ALWAYS been Dec 15th. Basically expect to have a nice surprise soon, keep checking the rammstein.de site for the announcement and link.
- The Gauntlet

Noice. Keep on F5ing Rammstein.De!

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Video Debut Postponed

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Video This Week

TG has it that the video for ITDW will be released this week. The single (physical and digital) will be released early in the new year. Sounds good to me. I wonder if we will get a B-side...

Update 20091215 0712: The video will debut on visit-x.net and the media will get it on the 18th.

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More ITDW Tease

This time it's not with TG though. I'm not sure what's up with that.

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ITDW Live in Germany

Until now Rammstein have played ITDW with modified lyrics or not sung those that offend when in Germany, but their latest Facebook update says:

Von heute an wird auch die Instrumental Version von "Ich tue dir weh" in Deutschland nicht länger aufgeführt, da der Zugang zu den Konzerten Personen unter 18 Jahren andernfalls nicht gestattet wäre.

What this means is:

From today the instrumental version of "Ich Tu' Dir Weh" will also no longer appear in Germany, as otherwise people under 18 would not be allowed access to the concerts.

This makes me sad. What is there in the music to corrupt the youth of Germany?

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ITDW Teaser

I reckon that's a guitarist (I've no intelligent idea which one, but suspect RZK) on a wire, with either the pyro sleeves from the Reise Reise tour on, or a new, similar set. They're not firing flames as they did on the RR tour, but sparks, and the guitarist is turning on the wire.

I may be a mile off. It's hard to tell with such a short clip, but that's what it looks like to me. Very cool, I must say. I do like pyro, and I hope it dominates the video.

Also, I am enabling comments again. The bulletin board isn't serving its purpose as I'd hoped, and as much as I hate the comments system it does at least enable you to communicate with me and other readers in an effective way.

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Ich Tu' Dir Weh Teaser

TG has a teaser up of the ITDW video. You know I will post when the full video goes up.

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More Bercy Pictures

I'm sorry I've been so brief and boring lately. My back's a bit buggered up again, and it's meant I spend as little time using my notebook as I can, outside work hours. This directly affects LILT, as all my posting is obviously done online. I'm seeing a physiotherapist to sort it out though, so hopefully I'll be all fixed up soon!

Some lovely pictures from the ninth may be found here. Thanks Epsilekt!

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Bercy Snaps

w00! Pitchers! L'un et deux.

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AOL Top 10

Rammlied has made the AOL top ten metal songs for the year list, at number six.

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Postponement Confirmed

The shift of the Luxembourg show to January 31 has been confirmed on the official Rammstein site.

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Sufistein?

A Turkish artist, who classes his work as 'Sufi Rock', says he's aiming to produce a sound like that of our German friends, but not exactly like them:

German industrial metal giants Rammstein was his example of the sound he intends to capture in future albums, “with better harmonies,” he added.

I'm guessing with less of the fucking, incest, sadomasochism, and Schnapps too.

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New Rammstein Classification

Yes, Rammstein has been pigeonholed once again. Now they are 'Horny Metal'. Okay...

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Luxembourg Concert Postponed?

Apparently Lindemann is having problems with his voice, so the concert is postponed. The tickets remain valid, but for a show now to be held January 31. Thanks Tempelhüter.

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Community List

Mehr!

I need to ensure my fan community list is complete. I have a list of links on the Rammage Control site, but doubt that this is complete.

If you know of a Rammstein fan community can you please look at the list, see if it's there, and if it isn't let me know. Comments can be left on the RC site or I can be emailed either at lilt (at) rammstein.me or at theletter (at) rammstein.me.

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