Rammstein. One of the world's most popular and most controversial metal bands. In my mind, music just doesn't get much better than the German sextet.
Started by guitarist Richard Z. Kruspe, he quickly found singer Till Lindemann who was playing drums in the band First Arsch. At the time, Kruspe was living with bassist Oliver Riedel and drummer Christoph "Doom" Schneider. In 1994, the group entered a contest to win a 4 track demo recorded in a professional studio. After winning, they grabbed the attention of guitarist Paul Landers who really wanted to join the band. To complete their sound, they asked Christian "Flake" Lorenz to play keyboard, as he previously played in the band Feeling B with Landers.
In September of 1995, the band released their first album, Herzeleid, which went platinum in Germany. To support the album, the band toured through most of Europe, including a short headlining tour in Germany.
Their second album, Sehnsucht, is what prompted the band's success in the United States. Sehnsucht reached platinum is several countries, including the U.S., and even double platinum in Switzerland. The band continued to tour steadily and produced their first live DVD, Live Aus Berlin. The success of Sehnsucht was further solidified by their nomination of Du Hast for Best Metal Performance at the Grammy Awards.
In mid 2000, Rammstein recorded their third studio album, Mutter, which was released on September 21, 2001. The album found even more success as the previous, going double platinum in Germany. For the film xXx, starring Vin Diesel, they performed the song Feuer Frei! live; the song was released as the first single from the xXx soundtrack.
September of 2004 brought the band's fourth album, Reise, Reise, which had slightly less success than Mutter, after the previous album was found disappointing by some of the bands fans. Still, like their previous two albums, Reise, Reise reached number 1 on German charts. Rammstein received their second Grammy Nomination for Mein Teil, the first single from the album.
Barely more than a year later, the album Rosenrot was released, the band saying they had many great songs written for Reise, Reise, but couldn't fit them all on the album. Rosenrot reached number one on German charts and Rammstein rode its popularity straight into the release of their second live DVD titled Volkerball.
Taking some time off in 2006, the band returned in 2007 as strong as ever, writing and recording in preparation for their sixth album, Liebe ist Fur Alle Da, which was released in October of 2009. Possibly their best album to date, Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da was extremely successful worldwide, once again reaching number one on German charts. The band has been touring in support of the album for more than a year and recently added shows in South American in late November/early December, with North American dates expected in November...
The band, described as Neue Deutsche Harte because of their mixing of heavy metal with dance and electronic sounds, is known for their wild performances and controversial lyrics. Unfortunately, their last U.S. show was before I was old enough to go to most metal shows so I have never been able to see them live, but if you have the chance to catch them, don't miss it, because you'll be in for something special! Rammstein is one of the world's staples of industrial metal and will be forever engraved in Metal's history as one the greatest bands of all time.
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