Back in 1996, Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor introduced German band Rammstein to the unsuspecting general public of the United States.

Reznor, who was selecting music for the David Lynch film Lost Highway, chose the songs "Heirate Mich" and "Rammstein" for the soundtrack.

While some underground club goers had been familiar with the Neue Deutsche Härte or New German Hardness style, a subgenre to Industrial Metal, it hit Middle America right between the eyes.

Adding fuel to the flames, Rammstein released its world-wide breakthough CD, Sehnsucht, featuring the Top 20 single “Du Hast.”

Within two years, the band — lead vocalist Till Lindemann, lead guitarist Richard Z. Kruspe, rhythm guitarist Paul H. Landers, bassist Oliver “Ollie Riedel,” drummer Christoph “Doom” Schneider and keyboardist/sampler Christian “Flake” Lorenz — was touring the U.S., opening for fellow industrialists KMFDM.

Tours with Danzig and Nina Hagen followed, and Rammstein solidified itself as an exciting, suggestive and pyrotechnic-friendly draw.

When the band found itself on the 1998 Family Values tour, featuring Korn, Limp Bizkit and Ice Cube, Sehnsucht went gold, selling more than 500,000 copies in the U.S. alone.

Now, some 14 years later, Rammstein is on the brink of releasing a career retrospective, Made in Germany 1995–2011, that will be distributed by Vagrant Records on December 13.

While the 16-track CD is filled with militant-flavored, German-sung marchers such as “Du Hast,” “Haifisch” and the band's debut single, “Du Reichst So Gut,” it also features the wry English-sung “Pussy,” the social commentary of the fist-pumping “Amerika” and the driving new single “Mein Land.”

Every song is framed by the band's chugging guitars, four-on-the-floor bass and drums and colorful samples or keys that has a tendency to sound the same, but when Lindermann's authoritarian and impassioned delivery begins, listeners can't help but stop to hear what he says, even if they don't understand a word.

While all the songs have their own ear-grabbing textures, thanks to the clean remastering, the theatrically dynamic “Ohne Dich” takes the listener by surprise with its acoustic guitar highlights and deep Bonham-inspired drum delivery.

Made in Germany will be released in three editions — the standard, which features only a single disc, and the Special and Super Deluxe editions that will include a bonus disc of remixes.

The sound-byte-centric “Du Reichst So Gut '98,” remixed by Faith No More, the Pet Shop Boys remix of “Mein Teil,” Devin Townsend's remix of “Rammlied” and the Johan Edlund remix of Rammstein's cover of Depeche Mode's “Stripped” are among the bonus-disc track list.

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