Eisschock’s new EP is web-only (also awesome)

Eisschock, a one-woman EBM outfit released its debut titled Therapie two years ago. It was a solid album with some rough edges like the rather undeveloped sound, but it was really promising anyway and left me wanting more. Well, now there’s a chance to get some more: last month a new EP, Play the Game, was released - although only on the web. And boy, the five new tracks do sound pretty good. Almost everything sounds better than the last time: the sounds have more punch to them, there’s more meat to the compositions and the singer sings better than ever before. Better check it out if you can spare a measly couple of bucks for some quality EBM/electro (I’m sure you can).

You can listen to lengthy samples of all five tracks on Eisschock’s MySpace site, or catch a music video for the pretty fantastic title track of the EP here. Eisschock also released a free instrumental track titled Secret World in July, you can download it here. You can buy the EP at several web shops, for example Amazon.com for $0,89 a track, Junodownload.com for something like 1£ for each song or MP3.de for 1,29 € a piece.

Tracklisting for Play the Game by Eisschock
1. Hass mich
2. Play the Game
3. Pictures of the Past
4. Platitudes
5. Far Far Away

Unheilig to re-release Puppenspiel and An deiner Seite

Yeah, we know that Unheilig’s newest album Puppenspiel, released early this year, was a massive success and probably also one of the very best releases this year, but is it really necessary to rub it in our faces? Now that the album has been more or less completely sold out, they’re going to release it again on November 28th, but this time in a total of three different versions. In addition to another pressing of the very basic CD with all the tracks, booklets and what have you, there’s going to be a stripped-down, so-called PUR version where you’ll get the album in a minimalistic cardboard sleeve. Finally you’ll be able to get a new “Limited Deluxe Edition” with the 14 main tracks and a bonus DVD. So, sorry, it seems that if you missed the two extra songs (Glaub an mich, Spielzeugmann) on the original digipak limited edition, you still won’t get your hands on them…

Also, Unheilig’s single An deiner Seite was pretty much sold out, and so even more rubbing-in-face is available. An deiner Seite will be re-released November 14th in two configurations: a normal single with the original radio mix and a whole new radio mix produced by the producer Oliver Pinelli and re-recorded specifically for the single, and a premium single with a new orchestral mix of the song and a video feature thingy. Yeah, one orchestral version was already included on the Spiegelbild EP, but this is a new one. At least EMP.de already has both editions of the single.

Tracklisting for An deiner Seite by Unheilig
1. An deiner Seite (Pinelli Radio Mix)
2. An deiner Seite (Original Radio Mix)

Tracklisting for An deiner Seite premium edition by Unheilig
1. An Deiner Seite (Pinelli Orchester Mix)
2. Videospezial (Impressionen, Making Of, Live, Video)

Mina Harker goes Tiefer on debut album

Do you remember the awesome remix version of Rammstein’s Ohne Dich by Laibach and Mina Harker? Well, now Mina Harker has finally, just about a week ago on October 31st, released her very first album titled Tiefer. Tiefer seems to be a very promising blend of gothic, industrial, rock and poppy things with Harker’s great voice on top of it all. On top of ten other rock-pop-goth songs, there’s also a duet with Dero from Oomph!, who Harker will be supporting on their German tour for the successful album Monster.

You can check several samples from the album, including the aforementioned duet with Dero, on Mina Harker’s MySpace site. Tiefer is obtainable from most stores, like EMP.de for 15,99 €, Infrarot.de for 14,99 €, Out of Line Shop for 12,99 € or Isotank for $19,99.

You’ll find the track listing for the album after the break.

Blutengel presses onwards with new single Dancing in the Light

Just a couple of months have passed since Blutengel released their huge live DVD set Moments of our LIVEs. Now the band is back at it again: a new single, titled Dancing in the Light, will be dancing in the light of day in nine days on 14th November! The single will be a teaser for the next album, which is scheduled to be released sometime early next year, and there’s going to be two different variations of the single. Both Dancing in the Light (”Forsaken”) and Dancing in the Light (”Solitary”) will feature the title track, a music video, an exclusive remix and two extra songs. The remixes and the bonus tracks are, of course, all different on both versions.

You can catch a trailer for the single here. The single seems to be orderable from just about everywhere, for example EMP.de has both versions (Solitary, Forsaken) for 6,99 €, Isotank has them (Solitary, Forsaken) for $9,99 each and Out of Line Shop has a bundle with both versions for 11,98 €.

And now for the piece of news countless people have been waiting for…

Rammstein begins recording of the new album

Yeah, that’s right, the NDH band that made the genre popular around the world has finally started recording their next album. The newly updated official website has been stripped of the Völkerball-look that’s been annoying eager fans for a couple of years by not displaying any updates at all with a simple black-and-gray style. Also, just about everything on the site has also been cleaned up and replaced with a newspost stating that recording will commence on November 9th in a studio in San Fransisco, while the drum tracks are being worked on in Los Angeles. Not much yet, but darned if I’m not excited. Rammstein’s definitely not my favourite German band anymore, but they bloody well do deserve the praise and the success they’ve had for their efforts in making German music (and German altogether) more popular all around the globe.

(more…)

ASP shares the tale of Krabat

ASP recently released a new album, Zaubererbruder: Der Krabat-Liederzyklus, which retells an old story of Krabat in musical form. A selection of songs from the new album are available at the ASP myspace site and a 2-CD standard edition along with a limited edition box set are available at emp.de, jpc.de and amazon.de as well as at isotank.com.

Tracklisting and update for Unheilig’s Vorhang auf!

According to EMSO, the new Unheilig live DVD will not in fact be published at this time in the previously-announced Deluxe Edition format. Appearing on October 3rd will be three versions — a single DVD, a double CD and a digipack LE double-DVD which includes the recording of the 2006 Nürnberg concert which was used for Goldene Zeiten.

All three versions are currently available for pre-order at emso.de and jpc.de and will hopefully show up in the catalogs of other retailers shortly.

Track listings follow on the next page.
(more…)

Alexander Veljanov, the voice of Deine Lakaien, is currently working on a new album of his own called Porta Macedonia. While the tracklisting and release date are not yet known, we do know that this album will come in 3 variations. 1: a standard CD with the basic tracklisting. 2: a limited edition with bonus tracks and a more elaborately designed CD booklet. and 3: a double LP version for collectors and music enthusiasts.

The album has not been listed at any online stores yet, so it’s probably safe to say that we still have to wait a few more months for Porta Macedonia to be released. But if you can’t wait, or if you are somehow unfamiliar with the seductive vocals of Mr. Veljanov, you can always listen to his current music or his past work with Deine Lakaien on Myspace.

Fans of EBM and electronic music in North America rejoice - the German [:SITD:] has confirmed a bevy of tour dates for the New Continent! [:SITD:] and the American/Austrian Aesthetic Perfection will support the Californian industrial electronic outfit Imperative Reaction on its Minus All tour in autumn and early winter. The tour seems to be quite an extensive one and it’s implied that not all dates have yet been announced, so you’ll have plenty of chances to catch some of the most crushing electronic beats on the planet.

Check out [:SITD:]’s MySpace site for a taster of what you can expect, six full tracks are there for your listening pleasure. Samples of the other support group Aesthetic Perfection here, and the main attraction Imperative Reaction here.

Click below for a complete list of the tour dates, or here for the official announcement on [:SITD:]’s site

(more…)

Unheilig recorded a show in Berlin during their recent Puppenspieler Tour, with the promise of an upcoming DVD release. Vorhang auf! is set to be released in October as a double-CD and DVD set, with a strictly limited (1500 copies) Deluxe Edition which will also include a photo book and an extra DVD of the 2006 Goldene Zeiten tour. The book will include fan photos, so if you have photos from an Unheilig signing session or concert, you can submit them to unheilig@orkus.de (with a statement giving permission for publication) until August 24th.

A full tracklisting and exact publication date for the DVD has not yet been announced, but when it comes out, it should be available through the usual places: emso.de, emp.de and amazon.de, and of course isotank.com. No word yet on when or if the DVD will be released in the US, but the Deluxe Edition is certainly going to be Germany-only, and it will definitely sell out quickly. If you really want it, my advice would be to order it from EMSO as soon as it is available for pre-order.

On a related note, Unheilig also recently announced that a full two weeks before its actual publication date, the limited edition EP Spiegelbild has already sold out. A very few copies may still be available for pre-order through EMSO, but those probably won’t last through this weekend’s M’era Luna festival.

On 29th this month the gothic electro outfit Blutengel will release a new live 2-disc live DVD titled Moments of our LIVEs. The DVD, which will feature a full live concert and a whole second DVD full of extra stuff like interviews, backstage goofiness and rehearsal videos, will be available in a grand total of three different setups:

The normal DVD with both the live and extra material DVD,

A limited version with the DVDs and a live CD all in a digipak

And finally, an even more limited fanbox with the DVDs, the CD and also an exclusive T-shirt thrown into a nifty box.

All versions of Moments of our LIVEs are available copiusly at a number of stores, including IsoTank: normal version for $32.99, limited version for $44.99 and the fanbox for $60,99, Poponaut.de: normal for 18,45 €, limited for 27,95 € and box for 44,95 € and EMP.de: normal for 19,99 €, limited for 27,99 € and box for 41,99 €

You can hear samples of Blutengel’s earlier works on their MySpace that doesn’t seem like it’s been updated in ages, slightly fresher material from their 2007 album Labyrinth can be caught here.

Hit the jump for a full tracklisting of the DVDs and CD.

(more…)

Peter Spilles sure is a prolific fellow. Alongside his successful and long-running industrial electronic ensemble Project Pitchfork, he has worked with tons of different artists on various releases and also runs a couple of side projects of his own, including Santa Hates You and Imatem. The latter side project’s second album, titled Journey, was released just yesterday / will be released soon. As always, there seems to be quite a bit of confusion surrounding the exact release date of the album: some sites tell it was released on August 1st, other sites that it’s yet to be released later this month. Make of it what you wish.

Just like on the debut album Home, on Journey Spilles has teamed up with a number of the foremost names in the EBM and gothic scene. Guests like Sara Noxx, Ronan Harris (VNV Nation) and Sven Friedrich (Zeraphine) are sure to bring their own touch to Imatem’s slightly synth-poppy electronic soundscapes. You can (pre?)order Journey at least on Poponaut.de (also ships to the States) for 17,95 € or Out of Line Shop for 14,99 €. Samples of Journey are available on Imatem’s MySpace site.

Tracklisting for Journey by Imatem
1. Fiat Lux
2. Haven
3. The Influence
4. Conquer
5. Blind Alley
6. Journey
7. Escape To Follow
8. All Ends
9. Down To The Sea
10. No One

Fanoe’s Empire Dirt available as a free download

Greg told you all about Fanoe’s second album, Down to Heaven, but if you haven’t checked them out yet, now’s your chance to get a taste of what the Swiss industrial-rock group have been doing. The first album, Empire Dirt, is now available in its entirety as a free download, along with two tracks from Down to Heaven. Head on over to the download area of the site and choose between 320 and 192kbps mp3 packages. If you like what you hear, the albums are available at cdbaby, iTunes and cduniverse among other retailers, or consider making a donation to support the band directly.

Eisbrecher’s Sünde: US release delayed

Dancing Ferret Discs had been set to release Sünde in the US on August 26, but unfortunately this will not be happening, presumably as a result of the plans to shut down DFD’s operations. No new North American label or release date has yet been announced by Eisbrecher’s management, and at this point, there will likely be a delay of at best several months before a US version is on the shelves. Import versions of both the single and the album will however be available through IsoTank and amazon.com, or for download from iTunes and amazon. The German release is unaffected and still on schedule for release on August 22.

A new Treibhaus album out in October?

Last October, Treibhaus announced that they had begun work on their third album, Alarmstufe Rot. The other day, there was a brief mention on the band’s myspace page that the album would be released this October. This has not yet been confirmed and the note has since been removed, but it sounds like a reasonable timeframe.

UPDATE:

Curt from Treibhaus recently sent out a newsletter with more details on the album release. Recording and mixing is done, only the mastering left to be done. He reported they are on track for a late October or early November release.

Das Ich announces new album Kannibale

The masters of harsh electronic music Das Ich have announced a new album titled Kannibale, and it is expected to hit the stores in October. Not much is known about Kannibale yet, except according to the band it is supposed to be their most brutal offering yet. Stay tuned for more information, previews of the soon-finished album will later be presented on Danse Macabre Records’ website.

If you aren’t yet familiar with Das Ich’s apocalyptic visions, be sure to visit their MySpace site for a whole bunch of full songs from their earlier records.

Die Apokalyptischen Reiter come out with Licht

Following the release of the single Der Weg, the German thrash metal band Die Apokalyptischen Reiter has now come out with the details for its seventh studio album: Licht will be released on 29th August. According to EMP.de, where Licht is already preorderable, there will be at least two different versions of the album, a normal CD version and a limited digipak edition with a bonus DVD.

You can hear two full songs from the upcoming album and a number of older tracks on DAR’s MySpace.

Tracklisting for Licht by Die Apokalyptischen Reiter

1. Es wird schlimmer
2. Auf die Liebe, die Freude und das Leben
3. Wir sind das Licht
4. Nach der Ebbe
5. Adrenalin
6. Der Elende
7. Heut’ ist der Tag
8. Wir hoffen
9. Der Weg
10. Ein Lichtlein
11. Auferstehen soll in Herrlichkeit