Oh the glorious music gods delivered on Friday with a brand new spanking track from my favourite band, Rammstein. 28 years strong and with all 6 original members still rocking it out, the band gave fans the title track from the forthcoming album, Zeit and a release date of April 29 for their 8th studio album.
For those that only know the band by “Du Hast” (shame on you), “Zeit” is a far cry from the guttural and driving beat of the song that introduced the band to most of the world.
“Zeit” starts off with a haunting piano that is reminiscence to their XXI Klavier album, that had some of their classics rearranged on the piano by Sven Helbig and Lars Kutschke, and performed by Clemens Pötzsch.
“Zeit“(time in English) is about the fleeting time of life (or interpreted from the visuals of the video: life, death, and time). Vocalist Till Lindemann‘s normal baritone growl is replaced by a voice that is filled with heartache, grief, and loss.
The video for “Zeit” is beautiful, heartbreaking, and elegantly done. Each scene is a painting and director, Robert Gwisdek, shows the tormented balance of the ménage trios that is time, life, and death. I’ve watched it a dozen of times and see something new in it every time. Click bait headlines from across the internet tarnished the video with the likes of “watch Rammstein deliver babies” does the video injustice. What sets Rammstein apart is that be it a video or a song, they put their art and heart into it. Example, the video for “Deutschland” is an epic 9 minute masterpiece of guilt and pride for a country that hasn’t been perfect and the headlines for it were “watch Rammstein dress as Jews”. I found headlines for it and “Zeit” disgusting.
My favourite lyrics from “Zeit” are:
So perfekt ist der Moment Doch weiter läuft die Zeit Augenblick, verweile doch Ich bin noch nicht bereit
(The moment is so perfect but times goes on, wait a minute I’m not ready)*
The single for “Zeit” also includes 2 additional remixes of the song. One by Ólafur Arnalds which is a beautiful instrumental with strings that will make you weep and one by Robot Koch which adds a drumbeat that makes me feel like one is marching to their death.
If you’re not a Rammstein fan, put your opinion of the band aside and listen to this beautiful track. As a Rammstein fan, “Zeit” has easily become one of my favourite songs by the band and it places a fear in my heart that this could very well be the band’s last album, which I hope and pray is not the case.
The video is age restricted and only available on YouTube, click here to watch.
Photo Credits: Rammstein YouTube
*as translated by Google Translate
