Longtime Rammstein producer Jacob Hellner began working with the band starting with their 1995 debut album Herzeleid. Hellner recently spoke with Loudwire about his early days with the band, saying he was very attracted to vocalist Till Lindemann's different vocals. Hellner clarifies that Lindemann's voice wasn't great, but had a certain character to it.
"I liked the music, I liked that it was in German. Till was different… not so good, but different," said Hellner. "Out of tune and insecure, but different. When I saw them live, I was like, 'Ah-ha! OK, I'm in.'
"Things that made the first album very complicated was the fact that I didn't speak German and they didn't speak English, except for Till. Till is the talented language man.
"We had good pre-production, we had a good beginning of the production, but then things started to deteriorate. [The instrumental section of Rammstein] felt left outside of the process, which was probably true. Because I said, 'Listen, if I'm gonna do these vocals, we can't have five or six other guys in the control room breathing down my neck.' They agreed to let me do it, but they were really wary about all of this…
"[It's] what I call the never-ending Rammstein conference. They talk constantly within themselves about what they're doing, why they're doing it, what is right for them, what is wrong for them… They can talk about a guitar riff for days, they can talk about a synth sound for days."
Rammstein is currently in the studio working on a new album. The band will also release Herzeleid (XXV Anniversary Edition – Remastered) on December 4, featuring the entire album remastered, some new packaging, and revised artwork done by original album artist Dirk Rudolph. Pre-orders are available here.
