À propos my post about music videos, I was sitting with my mouth hanging open when I saw the official video for German band Rammstein’s latest release, Adieu, the last track on their album Zeit (Time). It was released on Nov. 24, 2022 and has had, to date, more than 9.8 million views. There’s high production value videos – and then there’s videos that take high production values to a whole new level. For heaven’s sake, the intro, outro and credits are almost as long as the song! It is actually a film – “A Rammstein Picture” – with a full storyline, set in a post-apocalyptic world, with clones in pods and enslaved minions. It reminded me of the appropriately named Polish film Hellhole (2020) – particularly the last scene which looks like the end of the world, at the centre of which is a beam of spectral, boiling light.
Considering the lyrics, I’m not sure that the story which has a lot of killing, horrible experiments, immolation, maniacal outfits and make-up, and explosions, is fitting. The lyrics are about death, but they are actually, despite the deep-throated growling vocals by Till Lindemann, sad and tender. The song is about that last quiet, solitary journey we must all take, when we die. The refrain goes:
Adieu, Goodbye, Auf Wiedersehen Den letzten Weg musst du alleine gehen Ein letzes Lied, ein letzter Kuss Kein Wunder wird geschehen Adieu, Goodbye, Auf Wiedersehen Die Zeit mit dir war schön
Translated, this means:
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye The last road you must walk alone A last song, a last kiss No miracle will happen Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye The time with you was beautiful
To me, that actually sounds sentimental. I suppose one must remember that Rammstein has been around since 1994 and that the band members are all grown up. Till Lindemann is the oldest guy in the band, at 59 years, but the others are of the same generation. And when you’re that age, you do start thinking more about death.
Do I personally like the song? I’m undecided. I’m not a mad fan of New German Hard Rock. And I basically got stuck on their single Du Hast (1997). But I think I’m going to give their recent albums another listen.
Adieu by Rammstein
The song is only 04:39 min. of the total video length of 08:50 min. It has everything; a large cast, multiple settings and scenes, the Rammstein band members playing the leads and singing (of course), makeup, sound, costume design, lightning design, CGI, you name it.
Here it is – it’s nothing if not impressive. Ooh, it must’ve cost an arm and a leg to produce.