When The Metal And Gothic Worlds Collide

"It’s a fucking party album,” Swedish producer/multi-instrumentalist Peter Tägtgren (death metallers Hypocrisy, industrial metal project Pain) explains of his new venture with vocalist Till Lindemann of pyrotechnic-favouring German superstars Rammstein. Having forged a friendship 15 years ago when Rammstein’s Mutter album was being mixed in Stockholm, they pledged to at least collaborate on a song together eventually. 

However, respective schedules rarely meshed until a couple of years ago. The pair had no agenda, parlaying their deadline-free creativity into debut album Skills In Pills. “It was a slow process, no stress,” Tägtgren says. “We didn’t want to do it like we do with the other bands, with labels and bullshit. So we just took it easy and when we had ten songs, then we sent my manager out on scouting. We didn’t think about anything, we just took it easy and making one song here, one song there. It just turned out to be a full album without even realising it.” 

"Our plan is not to go into a bar with an acoustic guitar and him with maracas. If we do this, we have to do it good.”

Sitting in a restaurant overlooking Sydney Harbour, the singer weighs in. “I never had something (entirely) in English going before, so it was the first time. He’d never composed a thing like this before, because I pushed him to the limit in everything,” Lindemann laughs. “He always came in with the guitars; he comes from the metal section, I’m more gothic. So we collide a little bit, and then we try to blend it in. We have a good mélange of both our tastes in music. 

“He’s a metal-head. It starts with the guitars, there’s the guitar in the middle and there’s no space for words. It’s the heavy metal world. That’s a different thing than in my book. I need an intro and then I need — you have to tell a story. You need space and silence for it, and then when it comes to the hook and to the riffs, then you can jump in with a chorus line or something. To tell a story, you need space so people are attracted to listen to it. Otherwise it’s a big mess.” 

Tägtgren concurs. “And I’ve got an open ear, so I listen to him and see, then I change some stuff and then we’re on the right track… For me, it was a unique situation to have someone that I can share ideas with. It doesn’t really happen that often.”

The LP is littered with provocative humour. One attention-grabbing track is the colourful Praise Abort (view the bizarre, NSFW video online), which the jovial vocalist emphasises is in jest. “It’s black humour, sarcasm, ironic,” Lindemann says. “It’s a simple story. It takes place in the history of a friend of ours. He’s even younger than me and he’s got seven kids. He earns good money, he’s an actor, but he’s always broke because the kids, they eat him alive.”

Although contemplating touring the project, Rammstein beginning pre-production on a new album in September will temporarily scupper such ambitions. “Our plan is not to go into a bar with an acoustic guitar and him with maracas,” Tägtgren jokes. “If we do this, we have to do it good.”