From Herzeleid · 1995 · Track 2
Der Meister
«The Master»
More from the album · Herzeleid
In context
A figure who presents himself as a master announces that something —a world, an era, a person— is about to end. Thirty years on, nobody has agreed on exactly what.
- Apocalypse
- Authority
- Ambiguity
- Origin
- Second song on “Herzeleid” (it was never a single; it came out as a B-side of “Seemann”), recorded in March 1995 at Polar Studios in Stockholm, produced by Jacob Hellner and Carl-Michael Herlöfsson and mixed by Ronald Prent.
- Live
- Debuted on 2 July 1994, more than a year before the album. 43 performances are documented up to 30 August 1997, after which it disappeared: it has not been played in more than 25 years, which is unusual for a song from an album the band still champions live.
Our reading
Part of the audience reads it as an apocalyptic allegory, a voice prophesying the end of something vast; others have read it more coldly, as the order of someone sending another person to be executed. Rammstein write and credit their lyrics collectively and rarely explain them line by line, so neither reading has official backing — and this is one of the cases where that silence is most noticeable. The archive is not going to close what the band left open.
The archive's interpretation, not an official account.
A voice with no owner
“Der Meister” stages a figure who presents itself as a master and announces that something — a world, an era, a person — is about to end. The band never clarified what exactly, and that ambiguity is why the song keeps getting re-argued: part of the audience reads it as an apocalyptic allegory, a voice prophesying the end of something large; another part reads it more literally and coldly, as the order of someone commanding an execution. Rammstein write and sign their lyrics collectively and rarely explain them line by line, so neither reading has official backing. “Der Meister” is one of the cases where that silence shows the most.
Back on stage, then gone
It debuted live on 2 July 1994, more than a year before the album came out. 43 performances are documented through 30 August 1997, after which it dropped out of the setlist entirely: it hasn’t been played in over 25 years, unusual for a single from a record the band still performs live today.
Context
Second track on Herzeleid — never a single; it appeared as a B-side on “Seemann” — recorded in March 1995 at Polar Studios in Stockholm along with the rest of the album, produced by Jacob Hellner and Carl-Michael Herlöfsson, mixed by Ronald Prent.
Notes by Rammstein Colombia, for the purpose of analysis. The original lyrics belong to their authors and are not reproduced in this entry.