Seasons change, people grow up and interests evolve; Rammstein’s lineup remains static. Formed in 1994, the six-man lineup helped to form a German subgenre within rock n’ roll: Neue Deutsche Härte, most closely translated to ‘New German Hardness.’ It’s a crossover style that includes elements from metal and from rock. The German media coined the term after Rammstein’s Herzeleid came out in 1995.

Twenty-two years later, the same six guys announced plans to create a new album. Guitarist Richard Kruspe opened up about the band’s inner-workings to blabbermouth.com.

“I was very skeptical to go back with RAMMSTEIN into the studio, because last time we almost broke up because of making a record,” Kruspe admitted. Any band that’s not The Rolling Stones that’s been together for over twenty years will run into issues such as these. People get so comfortable with each other that they become like family, and family fights can be the most intense. Rammstein’s album-making involves “a lot of communication, a lot of love and a lot of reflection about yourself.” It comes as no surprise therefore, that “there were times [Kruspe] needed distance.”

However, this time around Kruspe said it “was very natural and I had a lot of fun,” which left him feeling happy and surprised.

“Since then, we’ve just created around twenty-eight ideas — I wouldn’t say ‘songs,’ but ideas. And somehow we managed to move back to the beginning of the world of RAMMSTEIN where we, basically, are very emotional and very enthusiastic about writing again.”

When asked about the general direction of the new album, Kruspe said that the group had decided to go with a new producer, as they’d been using the old one for the past six records. However, despite his reinvigorated enthusiasm for the band, Kruspe said this: “I just feel like, for some reason, that it’s gonna be the last record we do.”

Rammstein is as hard as they come. They’ve been described by The New York Times as a “powerful strain of brutally intense rock… bringing gale-force music and spectacular theatrics together,” and have found themselves at the center of a list of controversies. These include spending the night in jail after featuring a liquid-ejecting dildo at one of their shows in Worcester, MA, and accusations of fascist sympathies. However, MTV Germany has declared after careful consideration of the band’s lyrics that they are in fact apolitical. They like to push the limits of taboo. The name of the album and its release date remain a mystery, but we know this hexad will not disappoint.