READY FOR TAKEOFF: Over-the-top shows, fireworks and heavy metal define the band.
TALLINN - If you are a music devotee and a great fan of German rock group “Rammstein,” then you have the perfect opportunity to be present at one of their greatest concerts, which will take place on Feb. 24, at Saku Arena in Tallinn.
After a four year break, the band has completed a new album and this is the reason why they will visit Estonia again. Rammstein will be performing the songs from the new album, and definitely their old smash hits, too. However, the show details are kept secret.
There is no other band that sounds remotely like Rammstein. The East German sextet’s unique blend of metal, industrial, techno and classical music elements has made it one of Europe’s most successful rock bands, ever since the 1995 release of its debut album “Herzeleid,” which went platinum in several European countries. Rammstein are true entertainers. The band’s amazing show has become a worldwide must-see.
Rammstein takes their name indirectly from the German town of Ramstein-Miesenbach, where on Aug. 28, 1988, the air show disaster happened. The Ramstein air show disaster was one of the world’s deadliest air shows in history. It took place in front of 300,000 people, when 67 spectators and three pilots died, and 346 spectators sustained serious injuries due to the explosion and fire.
Actually, the band’s signature song “Rammstein,” is a commemoration of the disaster. In the short period before the band became well known, they performed under the name “Rammstein-Flugschau,” literally meaning “Rammstein-Airshow.”
Although the majority of their songs are sung in German, Rammstein has had success around the world. Although they are often generalized as “Neue Deutsche Harte,” which means “new German hardness,” their music spans a variety of related styles, including heavy metal, industrial metal, hard rock, electronic music and grunge, with influences of punk rock, pop music and gothic rock. “The New German Hardness,” or NDH, is a hard rock and heavy metal trend that was developed in Germany in the early 1990s. Its signature style combines the distorted sounds of instruments, such as the guitar, drums and keyboard with deep, powerful vocals. Current members of the band are Till Lindemann (lead vocals), Richard Zven Kruspe (lead guitar), Paul H. Landers (rhythm guitar), Oliver “Ollie” Riedel (electric basse), Christopher “Doom” Schneider (drums) and Christian “Flake” Lorenz (keyboards).
The lyrics of Rammstein, and above all their utterances by Lindemann, are an essential element of music and shape the perception by fans and a wider public.
Many of their songs are inspired by real life events such as “Rammstein” (the airshow disaster), “Mein Teil” (The Meiwes Case), “Wiener Blut” (Fritzl case) and others.
Wordplay is a fundamental component of Rammstein’s lyrics. In many instances, the lyrics are phrased such that they can be interpreted in several ways.
Rammstein has achieved particular fame (not to mention notoriety) for its hugely over-the-top stage show, using so many pyrotechnics that fans eventually coined the motto “Other bands play, Rammstein burns!” After an accident on Sept. 27, 1996, in the Arena in Berlin where some burning decoration parts fell on the audience, the band used professionals to handle the pyrotechnics. Till Lindemann, the singer is now a licensed pyrotechnician who spends entire songs engulfed head-to-toe in flames. He has suffered multiple burns on his ears, hair and arms. The heat is so intense that, on occasion, people have been carried out of concerts suffering from heat exhaustion, and lighting gantries have been seen glowing red-hot from repeated fireball hits.
According to Rammstein, the band’s motto is: “Do your own thing. And overdo it!” The aim is to get people’s attention and have fun at the same time. “You have to understand that 99 percent of the people do not understand the lyrics, so you have to come up with something to keep the drama in the show, say band members. We have to do something. We like to have a show; we like to play with fire. We do have a sense of humor. We do laugh about it; we have fun but at the same time we take the music and the lyrics seriously. It’s a combination of humor, theater and our East German culture.”
The New York Times described Rammstein’s music as a “powerful strain of brutally intense rock bringing gale-force music and spectacular theatrics together.” There is scarcely anywhere upon earth where Rammstein have not yet set off their rockets. They are one of the few bands in recent years to have defined themselves largely through their live shows, which in turn are characterized by their vast battery of pyrotechnics, which comes close to a full scale operatic production. Rammstein’s concerts are marked by grand gestures which linger on in the mind’s eye.
Rammstein sings in German. In contrast to most of their colleagues, they never sought to do otherwise. “Why should we?” ask Rammstein. “We wanted to do our own thing, and that has to do with where we come from. And we are from the German nation.”
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