Emigrate (band)

Emigrate is an industrial metal side project founded by Rammstein guitarist Richard Kruspe in 2005. The group started in New York City before moving its base to Berlin. To date, they have put out four studio albums, with a rotating cast of musicians contributing to the recordings. While initially conceived as a studio project, Emigrate has since performed live, including a 2018 tour and festival appearances such as Hellfest.

Kruspe first conceived the project in 2000, during the tense recording sessions for Rammstein’s third album, *Mutter*. Frustrated by internal band friction, he wanted a space where he could call all the shots. He relocated from Berlin to New York in 2001 and officially launched Emigrate in 2005, during a Rammstein hiatus. He began writing songs with his then-wife, Caron Bernstein, and brought in guitarist-producer Olsen Involtini, bassist Arnaud Giroux, and Clawfinger drummer Henka Johansson to record the debut. In September 2006, samples of three songs—“My World,” “Babe,” and “Temptation”—appeared online. On July 27, 2007, Kruspe promoted the album on Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson’s BBC radio show. The self-titled debut, co-produced by longtime Rammstein collaborator Jacob Hellner, came out on August 31, 2007. The single “My World” landed on the *Resident Evil: Extinction* soundtrack, and its video used footage from the film. A second single, “New York City,” followed in October 2007. After Rammstein regrouped to work on a new album later that year, Kruspe put Emigrate on hold. A final single from the debut, “Temptation,” was released in March 2008, and Kruspe devoted himself full-time to Rammstein for the next three years.

Kruspe moved back to Berlin in 2011. That June, drummer Joe Letz—who had appeared in the “My World” video—announced on social media that Kruspe was working on a new Emigrate album. In December 2012, the band’s Facebook page said studio sessions for a second album would start the following month. In January 2013, Kruspe posted that drums were being mixed. By January 2014, he reported that twenty tracks had been recorded and that mixing would happen in Los Angeles with Ben Grosse, aiming for a summer 2014 release. On March 7, 2014, he announced the album was finished. A teaser trailer appeared on Facebook on July 22, revealing the title *Silent So Long* and a release date of October 17, 2014.