Mutter is the third album by German Neue Deutsche Härte band Rammstein. It was released on 2 April 2001 through Motor and Universal Music. The album's cover image is a photograph of a dead fetus, which was taken by Daniel & Geo Fuchs. The album has yielded six singles which, to date, are the most released from any Rammstein album.
Writing and recording
From September to December 1999, the band rented the house Weimar in Heiligendamm on the Baltic Sea for pre-production. The sound recordings took place in May and June 2000 at Studio Miraval in southern France. Already over Christmas 2000, Rammstein released the song "Links 2 3 4" on their website for download. In January 2001 the video was released, in February the single "Sonne".
Critical reception and legacy
In 2005, Mutter was ranked number 324 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time. In a 2016 article published by uDiscover, Oran O'Beirne described the album as "one of the most important contemporary releases within heavy metal’s many subgenres." In the interview with Noizr Zine, the well-known Swedish producer and musician Peter Tägtgren advised "Mutter" as a reference work for beginner producers:
"I think, if you are not into death metal or something like that, but if you are into metal, I would say maybe Rammstein’s "Mutter" is very good, because it has a lot of different elements, it has orchestra parts, heavy guitars, good drum sound — that could be a good reference."
Track listing
There are various editions of Mutter, each with different features:
The Limited Tour Edition had the same cover, but red with the Rammstein logo embossed on the front. It also had a second CD with the following live tracks:
"Ich will" – 3:57
"Links 2 3 4" – 4:54
"Sonne" – 4:42
"Spieluhr" – 5:27
The Japanese edition had "Halleluja" as a hidden track, found after "Nebel". The track was later included in Resident Evil soundtrack, but does not appear in the film.
The limited edition had a second CD with just one track, "Halleluja", and a CD-ROM area featuring the "Sonne" video. There is a spelling error on the back album track listing: it is listed as "Hallelujah" but the bonus CD itself has the song listed as "Halleluja", which is the correct spelling.
A 12" vinyl version and a MC version were released, with the same track list
The Limited Tour Edition was also released as a double cassette set, with the second cassette containing the live tracks.
The Turkish cassette release of the album fades all songs out at 3:44.
Note: Some copies that have "Halleluja" as a hidden track can not be played for unknown reasons. On 3 April 2010 Rammstein posted a video with an official translation of "Halleluja" on their Facebook page, "in light of recent events".
