RAMMSTEIN Is Working With Director JONAS ÅKERLUND On First Video(s) For New Album

German industrial metallers RAMMSTEIN have posted a slideshow of photos from what appears to be a video shoot for their long-awaited new album. Among the Instagram pictures is one featuring two actresses dressed as nuns, and a shot of a clapperboard in front of singer Till Lindemann‘s face with the title “Black Dog, Big Fish” and director Jonas Åkerlund‘s name on it.

Longtime RAMMSTEIN collaborator Åkerlund is the original drummer of BATHORY, one of the first black metal bands, who made his mark directing music videos for artists from Madonna and THE ROLLING STONES to MAROON 5 and Beyoncé. These have won the Swedish director a host of awards, including several Grammys, an MTV VMA, MVPA Hall Of Fame award and more. Åkerlund has also directed a number of feature films, including cult favorite “Spun” starring Jason Schwartzman, Mickey Rourke, Brittany Murphy and John Leguizamo. He also helmed the upcoming film “Lords Of Chaos”, based on true events in the Norwegian black metal music scene in the early 1990s, which will open in theaters February 8 and on demand on February 22.

RAMMSTEIN‘s first studio album since 2009’s “Liebe Ist Für Alle Da” is tentatively due this spring. The effort was 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.

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.