Rammstein’s ‘Sehnsucht’ turns 29 on 22 August
Motor Music released Rammstein’s “Sehnsucht” on 22 August 1997, produced by Jacob Hellner. The industrial metal album turns 29 this year.
Rammstein, the German Neue Deutsche Härte band, released their second studio album, “Sehnsucht,” on 22 August 1997 through Motor Music in Europe and Slash Records in the United States. The album turns 29 this year. “Sehnsucht” followed the band’s 1995 debut, “Herzeleid,” and includes the singles “Engel” and “Du hast.”
Rammstein recorded “Sehnsucht” between November 1996 and July 1997 at Temple Studios in St. Paul’s Bay, Malta, produced again by Jacob Hellner with the band and mixed by Ronald Prent. The eleven-track album runs “Sehnsucht,” “Engel,” “Tier,” “Bestrafe mich,” “Du hast,” “Bück dich,” “Spiel mit mir,” “Klavier,” “Alter Mann,” “Eifersucht” and “Küss mich (Fellfrosch).” North American and Japanese CD editions added English-language versions of “Engel” and “Du hast” as bonus tracks. “Engel” was released as the lead single on 1 April 1997 and reached gold status in Germany on 23 May 1997; “Du hast” followed as the second single, entering the German singles chart at number five in August 1997. “Sehnsucht” reached number one on the German album chart within two weeks of release and later became the only entirely German-language album certified platinum in the United States by the RIAA. “Sehnsucht” streams on Spotify.
About Rammstein
Rammstein formed in Berlin in 1994. Guitarist Richard Kruspe, who had left East Germany in 1989, began working with bassist Oliver Riedel and drummer Christoph Schneider in 1993 and recruited Till Lindemann, then a drummer in the band First Arsch, as vocalist. Guitarist Paul Landers and keyboardist Christian “Flake” Lorenz, both formerly of the East German band Feeling B, completed the lineup in 1994. The band took its name from the 1988 Ramstein air show disaster, adding an extra “m.” Motor Music signed Rammstein and released the debut single “Du riechst so gut” in August 1995, followed by the debut album “Herzeleid” that September.
Rammstein began recording “Sehnsucht” at Temple Studios in Malta in November 1996 while still touring behind “Herzeleid.” Motor Music released the album on 22 August 1997, and its US release through Slash Records led to a four-year world tour, including a 1998 run on the Family Values Tour alongside Korn, Ice Cube, Orgy and Limp Bizkit, and the live album “Live aus Berlin” (1999). Rammstein signed with Universal Music and released “Mutter” in 2001, “Reise, Reise” in 2004, “Rosenrot” in 2005 and “Liebe ist für alle da” in 2009, followed by a self-titled seventh album in 2019 and “Zeit” in 2022. Motor Music issued a remastered anniversary edition of “Sehnsucht” on 9 June 2023.
In 2023, German prosecutors opened an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against Lindemann and closed it later that year, stating no evidence was found to support criminal charges. Rammstein’s catalog has continued to draw outside attention: Swedish dark synth act Priest released a cover of “Engel” in 2023. Lindemann has continued to record outside the band, releasing the single “Es brennt” in March 2026. The anniversary of “Sehnsucht” places the album back in Rammstein’s timeline as the release that took the band from Germany to a global stage.
Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!
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