Could you base a whole album around an air disaster in Japan, with all lyrics delivered in the German language? Die antwort ist ‘ja’! Rammstein, an industrial metal band occupying their own niche in the subgenre ‘Neue Deutsche Härte’, did just that and released ‘Reise Reise’ to an unsuspecting public in 2004.
On 12th August 1985, Japan Airlines flight 123 crashed into Mount Takamagahara near Mount Osutaka in the Kantō Range in southern Gumma district, northwest of the capital Tokyo. 520 people lost their lives that day and the incident remains the single deadliest single-plane crash in history. According to Britannica: “The plane had left Tokyo airspace and had ascended to 24,000 feet (7,300 metres) when the first distress calls came from the plane’s pilot, who initially reported losing altitude and then reported difficulty controlling the plane. The plane fell to around 10,000 feet (3,000 metres). The pilot continued to send distress calls and asked to be rerouted to the Tokyo airport. But about 45 minutes after takeoff, the plane crashed into Mount Takamagahara…Rescue attempts were made difficult by the remote and treacherous location of the crash site. Not until 14 hours after the crash were emergency rescue crews able to reach the area. Paratroopers descended from helicopters onto the scene, and some rescue volunteers reached the remote area on foot. Of the 524 people on the plane, 4 survived. The crash was attributed to a missing tail fin that was likely structurally weakened because of frequent landings and takeoffs. Many aviation experts credited the pilot for keeping the damaged plane in the air for almost a half hour after reporting difficulty.” [5.]
The cover artwork for the album, by Plantage and Alex Brunner, is based on the salvaged ‘black box’ flight recorder, captioned ‘Flugrekorder, nicht öffnen’ on the front, which translates into English as ‘Flight Recorder, Do Not Open’. The orange and white colours are based on the livery of the fated plane, with photos in the booklet taken of the twisted metal remains of the fuselage.
The members of Rammstein originally hail from the former East Germany and the band was formed in Berlin. This was their fourth studio album, after debut ‘Herzeleid’ (‘Heartbreak’) released in 1995, the amazing ‘Sehnsucht’ (‘Longing’) which consolidated their sound and reputation in 1997 and ‘Mutter’ (‘Mother’) which followed in 2001. As such, the band’s reputation had already been established and they had been successful in creating their own subgenre ‘Neue Deutsche Härte’ within the rock and metal world, adhering to their ‘punk rock’ principles.
The band’s original lineup – lead vocalist Till Lindemann, lead guitarist Richard Kruspe, rhythm guitarist Paul Landers, bassist Oliver Riedel, drummer Christoph ‘Doom’ Schneider, and keyboardist ‘Doktor’ Christian ‘Flake’ Lorenz—has remained constant throughout their career. Their songwriting, which consists of Lindemann writing and singing the lyrics over instrumental pieces the rest of the band has worked on previously, has also been a constant, creating a very recognisable sound. 
In her book ‘Little Black Rammbook’, Jackie White refers to the band’s trademark rhyming song lyrics as built “on a strong German literary heritage. During medieval times German poets toured the Royal Courts to entertain crowds with rhyming verse. Rammstein’s songs have a similar style, presented in a modern setting, appealing to a wide age range.” White also points out that “To a trained ear, you can hear Lindemann’s Berlin/East German dialect, particularly in how he says the word I, or ich…”, going on to contrast his soft ‘eee-shhh’ pronunciation in the song ‘Ich Will’ with the hard ‘eee-uch’ sound of the ‘Hochdeutsch’ pronunciation. One key tenet of ‘Little Black Rammbook’ is to convey to the reader the sense and meaning of the verses in the original German language of Rammstein’s music, which Jackie White considers are often lost in literal translations of the lyrics. An example is fan and live favourite ‘Ich Will’ (from the ‘Mutter’ album), which translates to English as ‘I want’. White carefully selects English lyrical equivalents which rhyme and also notes that the ‘ihr’ in German, the plural ‘you’ (which a word doesn’t exist for in English) is a key part of the song, inviting in the audience, possibly a reason why it is such a successful live piece [3.]
“Ich will eure Stimmen hören
Ich will die Ruhe stören
Ich will, dass ihr mich gut seht
Ich will, dass ihr mich versteht
I want your voices to be heard
I want peace shaken and peace stirred
I want, that you see me clearly
I want, that you hold me dearly” [3.]
Jackie White explores the context of Rammstein’s music in her book, the background being a Germany where East and West were peacefully reunited after ‘Glasnost’ and the fall of the Berlin Wall: “The economic and social problems of such a merger would be vast. Germany could not heal without its two sides reunited. It was still suffering the trauma of lost generations forty years after the war ended, and continuing guilt as a nation for causing two World Wars.” [3.] White goes on to focus on the frontman and songwriter’s personal circumstances: “Till Lindemann, Rammstein’s lead singer, was born in January 1963. He lived in East Germany, close to Berlin. He was roughly the same age as Christiane F. [drug addict and prostitute working along the Ku’Damm in Berlin in the late 70s and subject of a 1981 film with soundtrack by David Bowie]. He also had a difficult relationship with his father. He was a child of a male generation still full of anger, suffering from the historical legacy of their forefathers and feeling punished as a nation by the entire world. Lindemann was looking for a voice, an outlet. And in Rammstein and his lyrics, he found it.” White demonstrates, through a number of examples in her book, the wordplay and clever hidden meanings behind the choice of vocabulary by Lindemann, drawings the listener into a deeper level that exists behind the seemingly straightforward rock facade presented [3.]
‘Reise Reise’, the album title and opening track appropriate a wake-up call used in the German military, translating as ‘arise arise’, or as it perhaps would have been adapted with a hint of sarcasm in British army camps ‘rise and shine’. It’s certainly a majestic opener for the proceedings.
‘Los’ is probably my favourite cut on the album, unusual as it is for a Rammstein song in being powered by an acoustic guitar riff. It is none less powerful for that, with a great rhythmic feel and dynamics, clean-toned electric guitar adding to the layering later in the song. The lyrics have the repeated ‘los’, an ending to a number of the words chosen, and there’s an autobiographical, humorous reflection in the song, despite it’s dark, phrygian feel:
“Wir waren namenlos
Und ohne Lieder
Recht wortlos
Waren wir nie wieder
Etwas sanglos
Sind wir immer noch
Dafür nicht klanglos
Man hört uns doch
Nach einem Windstoss
Ging ein Sturm los
Einfach beispiellos
Es wurde Zeit
Los” [7.]
(This translates into English as:
“We were nameless
and without songs
We were never again
really wordless
Still we are
a little songless
Yet we’re not toneless
You can hear us
After a gust of wind
began a storm
Simply matchless
It was time
-less”) [7.]
There are no ‘weak’ tracks on the record, all songs offering musical sustenance and ideas in their own way. ‘Amerika’ is noteworthy in that it is one of the very few Rammstein tunes where Lindemann sings in English, only in the chorus, and for amusing effect. Take lines like ‘We’re all living in Amerika, Coca-cola, sometimes war’, for example, or a combination of English and Deutsch ‘Amerika ist wunderbar’ or just Deutsch: ‘Nach Afrika kommt Santa Claus, Und vor Paris steht Micky Maus’! Spelling ‘America’ with a ‘k’ makes it somewhat ambiguous doesn’t it, and of course we have to bear in mind that ‘America’ is not ‘The United States Of America’ – perhaps the more vague the better, if you’re looking for your listeners to find their own meanings? The line in the bridge ‘This is not a love song’ may have been taken from John Lydon’s PIL but the partnering ‘I don’t speak my mother’s tongue’ is definitely a jibe at all those bands who decide that their music will sell better of they sing in English rather than their native ‘sprache’.
‘Ohne Dich’ is one of the album’s strongest and most memorable songs, a ballad of love and loss, with some very evocative lyrics. Perhaps you could link this yearning for a lost loved one to flight 123. It starts with Lindemann going into the pine forest, the last place that he saw ‘her’, the subject of the song. Evening is descending over the country and sorrow is gripping his heart as he mourns the one that he cannot live without, in a world where the birds no longer sing:
“Ich werde in die Tannen gehen
Dahin, wo ich sie zuletzt gesehen
Doch der Abend wirft ein Tuch aufs Land
Und auf die Wege hinterm Waldesrand
Und der Wald, er steht so schwarz und leer
Weh mir, oh weh
Und die Vögel singen nicht mehr…
Ohne dich kann ich nicht sein, ohne dich
Mit dir bin ich auch allein, ohne dich
Ohne dich zähl’ ich die Stunden ohne dich
Mit dir stehen die Sekunden, lohnen nicht”
The music is a beautiful repeated chord progression in minor keys and Lindemann’s lyrics complement well, painting the personal heartbreak over the sad nordic landscape.
‘Doktor’ Christian ‘Flake’ Lorenz, Rammstein keyboard player describes one of the more unusual parts of the band’s stage show in his autobiographical book ‘It’s The World’s Birthday Today’:
“On the last tour, I still had to ride in the inflatable boat. I was always terrified beforehand. Now, you might be asking yourself just what I was doing in an inflatable boat, since in a concert venue there’s no water anywhere. Yes, well, as perverse as it sounds, I sail the boat over people. Or rather, sailed…” [2. P155 on] Flake goes on to trace the origins of this ‘stunt’ back to a spontaneous move on stage of a dingy used to slide large amps around, employed when the band played their song ‘Seemann’ (‘seaman’ or ‘sailor’ in English), which was one of the singles from their debut album ‘Herzeleid’. Flake was the band member chosen for this gimmick, being as he was ‘the fall guy’ and the only one who didn’t play in part of the song. During the Sehnsucht tour, during this song, Flake sat in a small inflatable boat and sailed over the crowd, who passed it around like the waves of an ocean, eventually bringing the boat back to the stage. Even after ‘Seemann’ was dropped from the live set, the stunt continued and featured in the tour for ‘Reise Reise’. 
Flake’s book tells a lot of tales of life over the years with Rammstein, sometimes humorous, in many cases uncomfortable, occasionally downright dangerous, often as a result of fate, and always adding to a richer tapestry than people might expect from what appears on the surface to be very serious music with a dark, somewhat twisted public image.
On the 16th July 2005, we were in the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, Glasgow, to see Rammstein perform as part of a tour to promote their new album ‘Reise Reise’. The setlist was dosed heavily with material from that album:
Setlist:
Reise, Reise
Links 2-3-4
Keine Lust
Feuer frei!
Asche zu Asche
Morgenstern
Mein Teil
Stein um Stein
Los
Du riechst so gut
Benzin
Du hast
Sehnsucht
Amerika
Encore:
Rammstein
Sonne
Ich will
Encore 2:
Ohne dich
Stripped (Depeche Mode cover)
Audio recording of concert:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1baqgRHtVU4
It wouldn’t have been a Rammstein gig without fire and even in a venue of that size, you could feel the flames wherever you were, Till Lindemann brandishing a flamethrower and firing out over the crowd. High energy power ensued after the ‘surrogate band’ roused the audience from a stage entrance, preying on the fact that bands on large stages are faceless from a distance, with maybe a nod to Pink Floyd ‘The Wall’ and their references to such in that cynical, satirical rock music opera.
It was perhaps slightly surprising that a band with such strength in their own material chose to finish the set on this tour with a cover of Depeche Mode’s ‘Stripped’ from their 1986 ‘Black Celebration’ album, the original being a relatively poppy piece of electronica, albeit Depeche Mode well down a road which would take their material into darker territory. Rammstein certainly bring the darkness to the song, Till Lindemann’s creepy vocal delivery at the start heralding their familiar dance beat with chainsaw guitars: “Take my hand, come back to the land…Let me see you stripped”
More than eighteen years have passed by since ‘Reise Reise’ was released. Rammstein are still very much a going concern at the end of 2022. Their studio output has been somewhat sporadic over that time, but always worth waiting for. Four albums have ensued since: ‘Rosenrot’ in 2005, ‘Liebe ist für alle da’ in 2009, the eponymously titled ‘Rammstein’ ten years later in 2019 and ‘Zeit’ in April this year (2022). Zeit vergeht…I would recommend that you go back to relocate that particular ‘black box’, the one encased in the orange and white livery of the doomed flight 123, disobey the ‘nicht öffnen’ warning on the front and revisit an inspired recording by the pioneers of ‘Neue Deutsche Härte’. 
‘Reise Reise’ Rammstein personnel:
Till Lindemann – lead vocals
Richard Z. Kruspe-Bernstein – lead guitar, backing vocals
Paul Landers – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Oliver Riedel – bass guitar
Christoph ‘Doom’ Schneider – drums
‘Doktor’ Christian ‘Flake’ Lorenz – keyboards
Additional musicians
Viktoria Fersh – vocals (track 7)
Bärbel Bühler – oboe (track 10)
Michael Kaden – accordion (tracks 1, 7)
Olsen Involtini – string arrangements (tracks 9, 10)
Sven Helbig – string arrangements (tracks 1, 9), choir arrangements (tracks 2, 6, 8)
Kinderchor Canzonetta – choir (track 6)
Dresdner Kammerchor – choir (tracks 2, 6, 8), conducted by Andreas Pabst
Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg – Orchestra parts, conducted by Wolf Kerschek, coordination by Nucleus, Jens Kuphal
Köpenicker Zupforchester – Mandolin (track 10)
‘Reise Reise’
Originally released: 27th September 2004
Label: Universal
Recorded at: El Cortjo Studio, Malaga, Spain; Drums recorded at Studios 301, Stockholm, Spain
Produced by: Jacob Hellner and Rammstein
Cover art: Photography by Olaf Heine, A. Brunner, U. Kuhn; Concept and sleeve design by Plantage and Alex Brunner
‘Reise Reise’ tracklisting:
1. Reise Reise
2. Mein Teil
3. Dalai Lama
4. Keine Lust
5. Los
6. Amerika
7. Moskau
8. Morgenstern
9. Stein Um Stein
10. Ohne Dich
11. Amour
References and photographs:
1. Rammstein ‘Reise Reise’ CD (author’s own collection)
2. Flake, translated by Yarborough, M. (2020). ‘It’s The World’s Birthday Today’. Los Angeles: Rare Bird Books.
3. ‘White, J. (2011) ‘Little Black Rammbook’. Oxon: Diamond Distinction.
4. Rammstein live at the SECC, Glasgow, 16th July 2005 – setlist:
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/rammstein/2005/scottish-exhibition-and-conference-centre-glasgow-scotland-2bdfac06.html
5. Japan Airlines flight 123: https://www.britannica.com/event/Mount-Osutaka-airline-disaster
6. Japan Airlines flight 123: https://smisnta.blogspot.com/2021/06/japan-airlines-flight-123-latroce-sorte.html
7. Rammstein Los lyric with English translation – Affenknecht
Eddie's Rock Music A-Z 