Rammstein "Zerfall" leaked: new album surfaces

Rammstein: Ninth Studio Album "Zerfall" Apparently Leaked

The editorial team at lifad.world has come across material suggesting a ninth Rammstein studio album. In a since-deleted online portfolio of a French studio engineer, a high-resolution album cover, screenshots of a production session, and three working titles were found. The presumed album name: "Zerfall" (Decay).

How We Came Across the Material

During a routine search into current studio bookings at recording studios in southern France, the editorial team noticed a publicly accessible portfolio on the freelance platform Fiverr Pro. A sound engineer who had worked as a freelancer at La Fabrique Studios in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence between 2024 and 2025 listed a reference entry titled simply "R. — LP9." Attached were several screenshots of a DAW session along with a single image that, upon closer inspection, turned out to be a complete album cover.

The portfolio was taken offline just a few hours after we first viewed it. Whether this was done voluntarily or on legal instruction cannot be verified.

The Cover

The artwork depicts a human skull slowly sinking into murky water. Air bubbles rise along the temporal bones, fine sediment particles float in the background. The color palette ranges between olive, deep black, and washed-out gold tones. The aesthetic is reminiscent of forensic underwater photography.

Particularly notable: the image bears no text whatsoever. No band name, no album title. This is exactly how Rammstein released their untitled seventh album in 2019, whose cover featured nothing more than a single match.

Three Working Titles from the DAW Session

The captured screenshots show a Pro Tools session with visible track names. Three titles can be clearly identified:

• Fleischstein
• Atemlos
• Tiefgang

Production: A Window Between Solo Tour and Hiatus

The timeline raises questions but does not rule out a production. Rammstein have been officially on a creative hiatus since mid-2024, after guitarist Paul Landers confirmed before the second Gelsenkirchen show in July 2024 that the band would not tour in 2025 or 2026. Till Lindemann was on the road with the "Meine Welt" arena tour across Europe from October to December 2025, followed by dates in Australia, Dubai, and Turkey through January 2026.

However, between the end of the stadium concerts in summer 2024 and the start of solo tour preparations, there is a gap of several months. The session metadata on the leaked screenshots carries timestamps from spring 2025. La Fabrique Studios would have been available during this period, and the remaining band members had no known public commitments.

An additional detail supports this timeline: at the top of one of the screenshots, a marker in the Pro Tools timeline is visible, labeled "MSTR DL 09/26." In studio production, this abbreviation typically stands for Mastering Deadline. If this reading is correct, the mastering would be scheduled for September 2026. This would point to a release in late autumn 2026 and fit neatly into the announced hiatus: no conflicting tour dates, but enough lead time for a campaign ahead of a potential comeback in 2027.

Assessment

The editorial team expressly notes that the material has not been officially confirmed. Neither Rammstein nor their management have commented so far. The authenticity of the cover and the session screenshots cannot be independently verified at this time. lifad.world is documenting and contextualizing the find — nothing more.

Although, at this point, the editorial team should perhaps do a bit more than just contextualize. Namely, tell the truth.

There is no ninth album. There is no sound engineer on Fiverr Pro, no portfolio with the label "R. — LP9," and no Pro Tools session with mastering markers for September 2026. The "routine search into southern French studio bookings" never took place. There isn't even such a thing as a routine search into southern French studio bookings. Nobody does that. Neither do we.

The tracklist is entirely made up. "Fleischstein" is not a word. "Atemlos" still belongs exclusively to Helene Fischer. And "Tiefgang" (depth) is exactly what this article has been lacking from the very beginning.

The only thing that actually exists is a pretty convincing-looking cover and an editorial team that wanted to find out whether, with enough technical jargon and a plausible time window, you can fabricate an entire album leak without anyone checking the calendar.

The answer: Yes. Quite easily.

April Fools!

The editorial team at lifad.world wishes everyone a wonderful April 1st.

P.S. — If anyone from Rammstein is reading this: "Zerfall" would be a damn good album title. Just saying. We'd be happy to pass along the album cover too =)