RAMMSTEIN Is Finalizing Mix For New Album

German industrial metallers RAMMSTEIN are putting the finishing touches on their first studio album since 2009's "Liebe Ist Für Alle Da". Tentatively due this spring, the effort is being mixed at a Santa Monica, California studio with Rich Costey, an American producer who has previously worked with MUSE, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE and FRANZ FERDINAND, among others.

Several new photos from the studio were posted earlier today (Tuesday, January 22) on RAMMSTEIN's official Twitter account and can be seen below. An accompanying caption reads: "Getting closer! Finalizing the mix for the new album in Santa Monica, CA.#Rammstein"

RAMMSTEIN guitarist Richard Kruspe told Metal Wani about the making of the band's new album: "Well, when I thought to do another RAMMSTEIN record, I was like, 'No, I'm going to do that. I'm not going through more suffering,'" he said. "That was four years ago. But what we did in the beginning is we said 'Let's get together and try to come up with three or four songs.' We didn't really put any pressure on us, which was very important at this time. While we were starting to rehearse and stuff and getting ideas, I thought, 'Wow, it's actually very good. Things have changed.' All of a sudden, there's a certain kind of respect that I always missed a little bit. We just had good chemistry, which reminded me of the first time when we started. Then I felt, like, 'What would interest me on a new RAMMSTEIN record?' I thought, 'Every time people talk RAMMSTEIN, it's about fire. It's all about the show.' Nobody talks about the music anymore for RAMMSTEIN, and it kind of bothered me. I was thinking, 'I want to do another record. It has to be musical in a way that can really stand out from other records.' That was my goal, or our goal."

As for the disc's musical direction and how it compares to the band's previous efforts, Kruspe said: "It's so hard to say it, because I'm working four years on the record, I'm so close. I think when I listen to the record — we're still in the process, but it's almost 'RAMMSTEIN 3D' is how I describe it. We have written a lot of stuff, but we recorded, I think, 16 songs right now. We're probably going to mix 11 songs because we're running out of time right now. I think it's going to be out in April, which will be the release date. Then, we'll be on our first stadium tour, which is very exciting."

RAMMSTEIN recently announced a batch of summer 2019 European tour dates. The run of stadium and arena shows will kick off on May 27 in Gelsenkirchen, Germany and end of August 23 in Vienna, Austria.

In 2016 and 2017, RAMMSTEIN played a number of concerts where the band opened each show with a brand-new song, presently only known as "Ramm 4". The track contained lyrics that seemed to be a combination of various titles of previous RAMMSTEIN songs.