Album DescriptionAvailable in:
Zeit (English: Time) is the eighth studio album by German Neue Deutsche Härte band Rammstein, released on 29 April 2022 through Universal Music. Produced by the band with Olsen Involtini, the album was unplanned and recorded as a result of the band's tour being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The lockdowns enforced due to the pandemic spurred the band's creativity, resulting in spontaneous writing and recording sessions. Rammstein recorded the album in late 2020 and early 2021 at La Fabrique Studios in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France, where they recorded their previous album. The album's title track was released as the lead single on 10 March 2022.
Background and recording
Following the release of their sixth studio album, Liebe ist für alle da (2009), Rammstein dedicated nearly a decade to touring and performing live at festivals, with band members Till Lindemann and Richard Kruspe releasing music with their respective side projects Lindemann and Emigrate during this period as well. Rammstein's untitled seventh studio album was released in May 2019, ending their lengthy recording hiatus. To support the album, the band embarked on their Stadium Tour. Kruspe originally predicted that the band would spend three to four years touring in support of the album. The band announced dates for two legs in Europe and one leg in North America. The first European leg concluded in August 2019, with the second leg having been originally due to begin in May 2020. However, after the COVID-19 pandemic began severely impacting both Europe and North America, resulting in lockdowns being enforced across both continents, the band delayed both remaining legs of the tour to 2021. They were both delayed once more to 2022.
During the initial COVID-19 lockdown in Germany, Rammstein began writing new music, leaving open the idea of recording a new album. The band chose to begin writing new music to fill the void created by the postponement of their tour. By September 2020, the band returned to La Fabrique Studios in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France, where they had recorded their untitled seventh studio album, to begin recording new material. Keyboardist Christian "Flake" Lorenz stated that the sessions were spontaneous and that the lockdown caused the band to " more time to think of new things and less distraction". Recording of the album concluded by February 2021. In October 2021, a song from the album was premiered when shared with astronaut Thomas Pesquet while he was onboard the International Space Station.
User Album Review
Like AC/DC, Rammstein have built a career around one incredibly distinctive sound. Since their formation in 1994, the German heavyweights have blended crushing industrial instrumentals with snarling vocals, an ambitious sense of grandeur with just a touch of flamboyant ridiculousness. You hear a Rammstein song and know exactly who it is.
After a decade without a new record, the six-piece returned in 2019 with their ‘Untitled‘ seventh album – 11 tracks that showed off that recognisable legacy while also adding a touch of electro-pop to their nu-metal-meets-hard-rock sound. Its release was followed by news of their first ever North American stadium tour, but COVID had other ideas. Instead of breaking new ground stateside, the band headed back into the studio to do it there. ‘Zeit’ is unmistakably a Rammstein record, but it’s unlike anything we’ve heard from the group before.
Sure, ominous goth-rock anthem ‘Giftig’ and the groove-driven nightmare of ‘Zick Zack’ are exactly what we’ve come to expect from Rammstein, but that doesn’t dull their edges in the slightest. Elsewhere, the menacing stomp of ‘OK’ blends the theatrics of 2019’s ‘Deutschland’ with the playful intensity of their 1997 classic ‘Du Hast’.
Lyrically, as well, ‘Zeit’ makes sure to cover the same lusty antics that will keep the band waving around inflatable cocks at their live show for years to (ahem) come. ‘OK’ is about safe sex (“One does not stick, stick inside without condom”) while it’s pretty obvious what ‘Dicke Titten’ (or ‘Bit Tits’) is about.
However, the aching ‘Meine Tränen’ is about the importance of men showing their emotions, there’s communal celebration at the heart of the moody ‘Armee Der Tristen’ and the closing ‘Adieu’ is a thundering, moving ballad about death, loss and despair. It’s not the only softie on ‘Zeit’ either, with ‘Schwarz’ trading in bruising guitar riffs for delicate piano while the title track flickers between hammering blows and quiet cinema as vocalist Till Lindemann sings about how quickly life turns to death with a touching vulnerability.
It’s not just that newfound delicacy that Rammstein brings to the table with their eighth album, either. The whispered ‘Lügen’ starts slow but soon erupts into a hyperactive pop metal number complete with heavily auto-tuned vocals that sounds better than it has any right to be. It’s not enough of a leap to speak to a whole new audience but it’ll definitely piss off some corners of the Rammstein faithful. The band have always enjoyed pushing people’s buttons, after all.
‘Zeit’ might be a more reflective album than previous Rammstein records, but it’s still an energetic, swaggering beast. Nearly 30 years into their career, the band remain as ambitious and as fiery as ever with their nightmarish, industrial rock sounding as daring as ever.
SOURCE: https://www.nme.com/reviews/album/rammstein-zeit-review-3212734
External Album Reviews
None...
User Comments