Neue Deutsche Härte

The Neue Deutsche Härte (New German hardness) is a direction in hard rock/metal music that developed in Germany in the 1990s. The combination of deep, clean vocals with a sou

The Neue Deutsche Härte (New German hardness) is a direction in hard rock/metal music that developed in Germany in the 1990s. The combination of deep, clean vocals with a sound based on heavily distorted electric guitar and drums also usually includes keyboard and the use of synths, samples, and sometimes drum-machines.

Oomph! are considered to be the pioneers of the genre. Their second album, Sperm, released in 1994, defined their special music to be the mixture of rhythm-based electronic music and hard rock, which served to be the source of inspiration for Rammstein. Rammstein was the first commercial breakthrough in the United States and all over the world. Rammstein call their NDH-subgenre "Tanz-Metall" ("Dance metal").