An abandoned ruin, the roof full of holes, the floor flooded. A man in a light blue suit with a thick chain around his neck stands in the water. A guitar is playing soimething that sounds like a sailorsong. "I like the sun, the palm trees and the sea," sings Till Lindemann as he wades through the water, "I like the sky, watch the clouds."
Rammstein as Johnny Cash heir? The soft side of Germany's toughest band? No, the singer of the most successful band in the country cultivates his hobby: Till Lindemann has revived "Lindemann", his two-man combo with the Swedish heavy metal musician and producer Peter Tiertgren (Pain) a few years after their debut album "Skills in Pills".
Four years ago he had sung all songs completely in English for the first time. The successor, bulky called "F&M", which probably refers to the contained piece "Frau & Mann", is now again in Lindemanns enigmatic German. Originally created as a commission for a play based on the fairy tale "Hansel & Gretel", the eleven songs also develop their own charm away from the stage and all Rammstein quotes.
The two music-making friends who met in a small Swedish town pub in the mid-1990s when a couple of bikers try to make stress with Lindemann and his Rammstein colleague Flake Lorenz sound easier here. There are more keyboards and choirs, more "angels" and "without you" than "Feuer frei" ("fire free") and "Du hast" ("you have"). The piece "Knebel" ("gag") is really a country or sailor-song until the thundering finale. With "Achso gern" Till Lindemann here sings his first tango too.
But, of course, his personality as a dark poet of the morbid Till Lindemann can't leave. Also on a hiking tour through the fairytale forest, the 56-year-old maintains his soft spot for breaking taboos and sexual allusions. Performed with the patented rolling "R", songs like "Blut" or "Allesfresser" become pieces that Rammstein could play on her stadium tour next year without risking whistles or Buuuhs.
