This past Friday, August 22nd, we saw the re-release of 2 Die Krupps albums, Volle Kraft Voraus and I (One). Both albums are significant releases for this historically important band, but display very different styles because an entire decade passed between their original release dates. And both re-releases have lots of previously unreleased bonus material.

Volle Kraft Voraus was the second album by Die Krupps and was originally released all the way back in 1982 when the band was at the forefront of industrial sound experimentation. This re-release contains 2 discs, the first of which is a completely remastered version of the album plus the original version of “Goldfinger”. The second disc contains the original album as it sounded in 1982 plus a few other 12″ mixes.

Skip ahead 10 years to when Die Krupps released I, their 4th full length album, in 1992. This album marked the beginning of their use of electric guitars in combination with industrial beats, once again showing how far ahead of their time Die Krupps really was, and laying down the roots of the Neue Deutsche Härte genre. This re-release also has 2 discs. The first one has the “Atom H” remixed version of the album (Atom H was the first record label founded by Die Krupps frontman Jürgen Engler in the 1980s) and 3 bonus electro versions of some of the album’s tracks. The second disc contains the original album from 1992 plus 5 demo songs that were previously not released.

If you consider yourself to be a Die Krupps fan, you have to get these re-releases. You can find both of them on Amazon.de for 15.97 Euros (Volle Kraft Voraus here and I here), or take advantage of their combo deal and get both for 31.94 Euros. In America, you can find both at Isotank for $25.99 each (Volle Kraft Voraus here and I here).

Continue reading for the complete tracklisting of both re-releases.
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The new Die Krupps anthology Too Much History is being released this Friday, October 26th, and I thought I would share my review so you know what to expect.

Too Much History is divided into two separate sections, each one on a disc of its own. All of the songs on both discs have been re-recorded (not just partially remastered) to sound in tune with the last few Die Krupps albums, Odyssey of the Mind and Paradise Now. This method reminds me a lot of what Joachim Witt did recently with his new best of album Auf Ewig, and the result is just amazing.

The first CD, The Electro Years, dives deep into the Die Krupps discography and sheds new light on some of the band’s oldest recordings. The song selection is excellent, highlighting their most famous songs from the 1980s when they were at the forefront of the electro-industrial scene. But once the first track “Machineries of Joy” started up, you immediately notice something is very different. You are hearing guitars!

Rather than simply regurgitating their early songs, Die Krupps recorded all new tracks (most with guitars) for every song on the CD. Soon, it becomes very clear that this is far more than just an ordinary best-of album. The Electro Years is like what Die Krupps would have sounded like if they had just started using guitars earlier in their career. And you can hear exactly why they eventually did start using them, too. They just blend in perfectly, as if they were always meant to be there. Every single song is just phenomenal! I haven’t stopped smiling yet.

The Metal Years is the second disc on Too Much History. It spotlights the best Die Krupps songs from the ’90s when they pioneered the industrial metal genre. Once again, Jurgen Engler couldn’t leave the songs untouched, so he touched up the songs on this CD also. The changes here aren’t nearly as radical as those of The Electro Years, but any good Die Krupps fan will notice the differences. And they will like what they hear.

Both discs are sprinkled with a few extra little treats. The Electro Years has a bonus track called “Fünf Millionen” which originally appeared on the compilation Advanced Electronics Vol. 5 which has a melody similar to “Machineries of Joy.” There is also a cover (not the remix Die Krupps previously did) of Pop Will Eat Itself’s “Ich Bin Ein Ausländer” on The Metal Years disc. And both have the brand new song “The Great Divide.”

I am absolutely in love with Too Much History. Die Krupps fans like myself have been waiting for this compilation for years now, and I can honestly tell you that it has been well worth the wait. Bottom line: You need to hear this.

Check out my earlier news post with the album tracklist and links to song samples

Die Krupps is one of the greatest and most important bands Germany has ever had. They were one of the earliest industrial bands way back in 1980, and later went on to create the industrial-metal sound in the early 90s. The band’s mastermind Jurgen Engler is often hailed as the godfather of industrial music and is easily one of the most important people in German music history. (Even before Die Krupps, he formed Male, the first punk band in Germany in 1976.) So it’s no surprise that the band reunited a couple years ago to celebrate their 25th anniversary. They’ve played several concerts and have been in the studio working on some new music, but the Die Krupps anthology release that they wanted to do hit some delays along the way. After many months of fighting to get everything together, it’s finally ready!

Too Much History is the name of the new Die Krupps anthology, featuring music that spans over a quarter century. Very appropriately, there are two discs, one for each of the band’s major eras. The first disc is The Electro Years and covers the first part of Die Krupps’ history, and The Metal Years sums up their harder sound on the second disc. In addition to all of the band’s best songs, Die Krupps has some new ones on the compilation as well. One of them, “5 Millionen”, is a new single that either was or will be released sometime this year (not sure yet…). There is also apparently a cover of the Pop Will Eat Itself song “Ich Bin Ein Auslander” which is new. “The Great Divide” seems to be new, too.

Both discs will be released individually on October 26th, but you can also get the version with both discs together which I would certainly recommend. To make their anthology even more mouth-watering, I think Die Krupps has remastered the songs. I haven’t read this anywhere, I’m just going by the samples I’ve heard on Infrarot.de (Electro disc here and Metal disc here) but some of them sound totally different from the originals.

And it just keeps getting better and better. Along with the few new tracks released here on Too Much History, Die Krupps has other new songs that they’ve played live over the past couple years. For example, “Der Amboss”. I’m just speculating at this point, but I think we may be seeing a new full-length Die Krupps album within a year or so. I certainly hope so.

Too Much History, Vol. 1 - The Electro Years
01. Machineries Of Joy
02. Für Einen Augenblick
03. Volle Kraft Voraus
04. Goldfinger
05. Gladiators
06. Der Amboss
07. Germaniac
08. Hi Tech Low Life
09. Alive
10. 5 Millionen
11. The Great Divide

Too Much History, Vol. 2 - The Metal Years
01. Metal Machine Music
02. The Dawning Of Doom
03. Crossfire
04. Fatherland
05. Bloodsuckers
06. To The Hilt
07. Isolation
08. Scent
09. Odyssey Of The Mind
10. Black Beauty White Heat
11. Ich Bin Ein Ausländer
12. The Great Divide

B.O.S.C.H. is another up and coming electro-metal band from Germany. They haven’t released an album yet, but ever since DeutscheMusik.net featured them back in April, I’ve heard people talking about their music non-stop. And for good reason. Their combination of simple, gritty guitars and smooth synths is one of the best things your ears will ever have the pleasure of hearing. Come to think of it, I think B.O.S.C.H. is kind of like the German equivalent of the (awesome) Finnish band Turmion Kätilöt.

Fans have been listening to the 5 songs on the band’s MySpace page for months, awaiting an album release at some unknown point in the future. Fortunately for us, B.O.S.C.H. has decided to release a rough mix of their new song “Spiegel” on the Razor Blade Dance Floor podcast. This episode of the podcast is focused on industrial-metal music and how it has evolved over the years and includes a few good tracks by (some German) bands including Rammstein, Die Krupps, Ministry, and Fear Factory, but the B.O.S.C.H. song is at the very end since the playlist is in chronological order. You can listen to the whole thing or just skip ahead to hear “Spiegel”. Either way, you need to hear this song if you like any kind of industrial-metal.