Joachim Witt’s acclaimed Werkreihe Bayreuth phase of musical career and set of albums didn’t, in fact, come to a close with the 2007 best-of Auf Ewig. Instead, there was room for one final Bayreuth-release: Dorian Hunter Theme, the main theme for the successful German horror audio drama Dorian Hunter, which is based on the Dämonenkiller series of books by Ernst Vlcek. Currently five parts of Dorian Hunter have been released, with another five coming and the series ending sometime in 2010. Witt not only composed the main theme song, but he’s also responsible for all of the soundscapes present in the play. The theme song is pretty awesome - a haunting, dark and very electronic song that has more in common with Bayreuth I and Eisenherz than Witt’s latest works.

The Dorian Hunter Theme was released last month as a digital download and also as a CD single, and it contains the original version of the track, three remixes and as a bonus five short clips from the radio play. You can listen to samples and buy the single on at least Amazon.de, where you can also order the Dorian Hunter audio play CDs themselves. Alternatively, you can order everything from the publisher Zaubermond instead.

According to Witt himself, Dorian Hunter now finally wraps up the Bayreuth-era and next productions are looming in the horizon. I personally can’t wait to see what he has in store for the future. In the next few days we’ll at least be talking about Leichtmatrose, a new band Witt was recently completely enthralled by and which he gave a big hand by mentoring and providing artistic guidance, so look forward to seeing a post about that project soon!

Joachim Witt - Dorian Hunter Theme
1. Dorian Hunter Theme (Single version)
2. Dorian Hunter Theme (Moorland remix)
3. Dorian Hunter Theme (Forma tadre remix by Moorland Music)
4. Dorian Hunter Theme (Orchestral remix by Moorland Music)
5. “Mein lieber … Rest!” (snippet from part 1)
6. “Lilians Irrsinn” (snippet from part 1)
7. “Finde Dorian” (snippet from part 1)
8. “Sagen Sie mir die Wahrheit!” (snippet from the epilogue of part 2)
9. “Jeff Parker sagt Tschüss” (snippet from part 5)

It’s the last day of August, the 31st, and that means there are a whole bunch of incredible new albums being released in Germany today. As you’ve read over the past few weeks, hopefully you saw some you might like. Let’s just take a quick look back to remember what albums are out today…

• Joachim Witt - Auf Ewig-Meisterwerke
  Witt is wrapping up the Bayreuth Trilogy with his magnum opus, Auf Ewig. This album features all the greatest songs from his 25+ year music career, remade in a more modern sound. This is sure to be one of the highlights of the year.
• Emigrate - Emigrate
  After many years as a guitarist with Rammstein, Richard Kruspe found the need for a new outlet to release the songs he had stuck in his mind that didn’t match Rammstein’s direction. He formed the band Emigrate, recorded his songs, and now they’re out on CD. A definite must-have for Rammstein fans.
• mind.in.a.box - Crossroads
  mind.in.a.box is a successful Austrian electronic group and Crossroads is their new album. The European version is out today, but the CD will be released in America on September 25th on Metropolis Records.
• Schallfaktor - End of Love
  This latest EP from Schallfaktor includes several new songs plus a slew of remixes by other great harsh electro groups like Suicide Commando and Grendel. With 12 songs, it’s basically an entire album.
• Saltatio Mortis - Aus Der Asche
  Saltatio Mortis continues the trend of combining medieval instruments with modern day rock music. Fans have waited 3 years for this new album, but it has been well worth it. Check it out, if only for the awesome album cover.

As you already know, Joachim Witt remade a bunch of his classic songs to commemorate the end of his Bayreuth Trilogy. They will be featured on his new masterpiece Auf Ewig, which will be released on August 31st. The first video for this album was for Witt’s incredible hit “Goldener Reiter”, and the newest video that has just been released is for the classic “Herbergsvater (Tri-Tra-Tullala)”. You can watch it on Witt’s MySpace page (as well as listen to clips from the new album).

“Herbergsvater” is a great song, of course, but I wasn’t overly impressed with the video. It’s a little too abstract for my tastes, and I think it uses the mirror effect way too much. It might have been cool for the first 2 videos that ever used that effect, but now it’s just really lame. What do you think?

DeutscheMusik.net has just interviewed Joachim Witt. In this rare English-language interview with Witt, this German music mastermind answers many questions submitted by fans about his history and future plans. Included in the interview are Witt’s own favorite musicians, how he teamed up with bands like Oomph! and Peter Heppner from Wolfsheim, and how he would love to work with either Rammstein or Marilyn Manson. To read the full interview text, please visit this page.

Joachim Witt experienced his early success in the Neue Deutsche Welle (new German wave) school of music, but eventually reinvented himself for his 1998 album Bayreuth I. This was the start of what he considered the “Bayreuth trilogy” in which he adopted a harder sound but kept a soft touch. However, Bayreuth III was released last year so this phase of his musical career has now come to an end. To mark this point in history, Witt is releasing his final work of this style, a unique album called Auf Ewig - Meisterwerke.

Instead of a normal best-of album, Witt has taken the time to recreate the elements from all of his best songs over the years and release them together in what is basically a new album. The first single from this compilation was the remake of his famous song “Goldener Reiter” (see the video here), and it will be joined by 15 other classics on the full-length album. Two versions will be available, a regular CD version and a limited edition which includes a DVD containing several music videos and an interview. Auf Ewig - Meisterwerke will be released on August 31st in Europe. It’s not clear yet whether or not Witt’s US distributor, Dancing Ferret, will be releasing this CD in America.

According to an interview Witt did with Radio Goethe, he has decided it’s time for a change in his musical direction. Witt says he will be moving to London to work on some newer, more experimental music. Perhaps we should have known something like this was coming when he appeared in the Egobar collaboration “Ajax zum Beispiel” where he worked with other experimental musicians such as Blixa Bargeld.

Auf Ewig
01. Goldener Reiter
02. Ich Spreng-den Tag
03. Eisenherz
04. Jetzt und Ehedem
05. Hundert Leiber
06. Die Flut
07. Herbersvater (Tri-Tra-Trullala)
08. Und Ich Lauf
09. Wem Gehört das Sternenlicht?
10. Das Geht Tief
11. Unsere Welt
12. Supergestört und Superversaut (Oomph! remix)
13. Batallion D’Amour
14. Wo Versteckt Sich Gott?
15. Weh-Oh-Weh
16. Immer Noch

Radio Goethe listeners already know that Joachim Witt recorded a new version of his classic hit “Goldener Reiter” (and they have already heard it a few times, as well). This incredible remake will be included on Witt’s forthcoming album, Auf Ewig. But the more immediate news here is that there is now a new video for this song which was directed by the Dutch film maker Edwin Brienen. It was just released yesterday on Witt’s Myspace page, but you can see it right here.

Goldener Reiter 2007

Purwien is the new solo project of former Second Decay member Christian Purwien. While the band is new, fans of Joachim Witt should already know a little about Purwien because Witt was featured as a guest vocalist on Purwien’s single “Alle Fehler”. This single and 14 other songs are now available on Purwien’s debut album named Eins. And after the main album has played, there are 5 more bonus remixes at the end of the CD.

The style of the music overall is electronic pop, kind of like modern new wave. We wish Purwien’s Myspace page had some full songs, but they only have 4 short samples which really don’t give that great of a feeling of what the music is really like. Fortunately, there is some compensation offered by the “Alle Fehler” music video available on Purwien’s website. Check it out here (right click to save).

Eins tracklist
01. Dummheit
02. Alle Fehler (Edit)
03. Bei Dir
04. Raum12
05. Früher
06. So Kalt
07. Vielleicht Ist Es So
08. Konsum
09. Leb’ Wohl
10. Ich Kann Sehen
11. Meine Meinung
12. Um Mich
13. Alle Fehler (mit Witt)
14. Bei Dir (Reprise)
15. E.I.N.S.
16. Bei Dir (Blutengel Remix)
17. Bei Dir (Joke J. Remix)
18. Bei Dir (Welle Erdball Remix)
19. Bei Dir (Polytune Remix)
20. Alle Fehler (Oktonaut Remix)

One interesting side note: The band Greifenkeil that we reported on earlier this week did a remix of “Alle Fehler” which is available on the “Alle Fehler” single.