On tour, Rammstein has used inflatable boats —an image familiar from refugees crossing the Mediterranean —in combination with a "Welcome" sign. Iris Spranger, Berlin’s senator for the interior, said she would take an uncompromising stance over the running of the concerts. “In Berlin in the areas for which I am responsible, there will be no Rammstein band aftershow parties.

There’s a reason the members of Rammstein step in front of the curtain at the end of every show sans instruments and bow like a Broadway cast. These guys love live theater and integrate themes from the art form. “Haifisch,” a highlight of Rammstein’s sixth album Liebe ist für alle da (2009) starts with dramatic horns and references Bertold Brecht’s Three Penny Opera in the chorus. The song builds with an evocative, slinky piano-and-synth rhythm and a shuffling beat that conjures images of the progressive art and culture that blossomed during the Weimar Republic. Mein Herz Brennt For the video accompanying their cover of Depeche Mode’s Stripped, the band had elected to use footage from Reich-era German filmmaker Leni Riefentsahl’s work Olympiad, from the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Riefentsahl had become a particular favourite of Hitler’s, after filming the 1934 Nuremberg rally for the infamous Nazi propaganda film Triumph Of The Will. It was meant to be artistic provocation. Not everyone saw it that way. Not allofthe horror comes from Lindemann's pen. Some of the frontman's lyrics are inspired by classical German literature, exemplified by the most prominent poet in the language, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Goethe's famous ballad Erlkönig, for example, translated: Goethe and Lindemann Singer and lyricist Till Lindemann most often uses words having to do with the concept of "Liebe" (love). Second place in the Rammstein lyrics ranking goes to "Herz" (heart), followed by "Mann" (man) and "gut" (good). Apart from love, heart, man and good, words like child, skin, blood, face and hand; sun and light; scream, no, stay and see are frequent in Rammstein's lyricsAnd then there’s his life away from the arts. Till is both a father and a grandfather, with a house in rural Germany, far removed from the bustle of Berlin. “I fish. I hunt. I stare at the lake,” he says. “I sleep at night in the forest and listen. Terrific, what you hear at night in the forest. It’s indescribably beautiful. I hate noise. I hate chatter. I expose myself to it, which is pure masochism. And then I must protect myself from it. Noise drives you crazy. You’ll die in it.” He occasionally loosens that corset. In 2003, he appeared in German children’s film Amundsen Der Pinguin (about a penguin that finds treasure, obviously). In 2015, he collaborated with producer and Hypocrisy mainman Peter Tägtgren in Lindemann, a project that saw Till singing entirely in English. The duo subsequently worked on music for Hänsel Und Gretel, a 2018 play staged at Hamburg’s Thalia Theatre in which the singer also appeared as a phantom. Mutter had been written in the winter of the millennium, and recorded in the summer of 2000. Their success in Germany had brought big hopes for the album, as well as a bigger production budget which enabled them to work in Studio Miraval in southern France. For scale, this facility had previously been used by Pink Floyd to make The Wall, Judas Priest for Painkiller, and AC/DC to do Blow Up Your Video. He has more than made up for it since. A fascination with all things carnal has been a key theme of his lyrics for the past 25 years. “I have always been interested in the hottest, unusual and scabrous aspects of life, especially to love and sex,” he said in 2015. “Subjects like fetishism, what others call sexual deviations, the different sexual preferences, sadomasochism.”

When Rammstein covered the Depeche Mode song "Stripped" and used images from a film by Leni Riefenstahl in the video, it was a scandal: The band were castigated for quoting one of the most controversial directors in film history. Guitar recording, editing and additional guitar production by Sky van Hoff at Studio Engine 55, Berlin In "Hilf mir" (Help Me), the narrator plays with fire and then burns —just like the iconic Paulinchen in the old, but in Germany ever-popular book Der Struwwelpeter from the mid-19th century, in which the author Heinrich Hoffmann warned children of dangers by telling macabre tales.The duel scene in "Roter Sand" (Red Sand) recalls the one in the novel Effie Briest by Theodor Fontane, also from the 19th century. Paulinchen in 'Struwwelpeter' Image: gemeinfrei EpicHeroes are big fans of Marvel movies, Marvel figures, we are very excited about Marvel Heroes Omega coming to consoles. Don't forget we will also have Marvel toys and Marvel Legends news and Marvel videos.Culture scholar Melanie Schiller is convinced that Rammstein represents cliches that cling to Germany as seen from outside the country: "Their depiction of masculinity is stereotypical, as are their extremely 'steeled' and 'idealized' bodies, male power, comradery and maybe also a fascination with evil and violence. The concepts of guilt, suffering, alienation and the issue of victims and perpetrators repeatedly turn up in the lyrics and the videos." Shelby Lynn from Northern Ireland, who attended a Rammstein concert in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, told the BBC she suspected her drink had been spiked and that she had been “groomed for sex” with Lindemann. She has said she did not have sex with the frontman. The rolled "R" and the hyper-clear pronunciation are typical not only of Till Lindemann's singing but also of the cliched depiction of Nazis in films worldwide. The band's logo recalls the cross of the Wehrmacht, the symbol of the armed forces in Nazi Germany. The performances include many pyrotechnics and spectacular lighting: These are things that, to Germans nowadays, uncomfortably recall the Nazi regime.

Rammstein's music is a snapshot of society. And the political situation in Germany has undergone major changes in the past,let's say,five years," says Melanie Schiller, pointing to the debate over migration and flight in Europe and the resurgence of right-wing populism in Germany; the far-right populist party Alternative for Germanyhas been represented in all 16 state legislatures since 2018. Prior to this, Rammstein’s performances on UK soil had numbered two, and one of those was an appearance on MTV’s Hanging Out, for which they were billed as “David Lynch’s favourite band”. The other was a tiny show at London’s Powerhouse in November 1997, at which their famed firepower was diminished by the small venue and the law. Had they appeared on Channel 4’s EuroTrash, they would have fit well with the show’s double-edged ‘look at the crazy continentals having fun we’re missing out on’ banter. After all, the band hasits roots in the 1980s East German punk movement, who were dissidents of a politically repressive regime. The band's symbols are eagerly worn by their fans Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Soeder Yet from the US to Russia, Rammstein is an extremely successful band. The concerts on their ongoing tour that began in May in Gelsenkirchen are sold out. Do audiences in stadiums understand Rammstein's complexity?In several interviews, Rammstein havestressed that none of the members of the band adheres toright-wing ideology. In a new video, the band again takes a stand on the "Stripped" video. Lindemann, 60, has repeatedly denied the allegations through his lawyers, saying they were “without exception untrue”. The first look at this new version of Rammstein was an online snippet of the song Links 2 3 4, followed by the full single and video for Sonne. Inspired by having Snow White And The Seven Dwarves on television while the album was being mixed, and noting how well the song’s drama went with the visuals, the clip found the band working in a coal mine for an enormous Snow White.