Eisheilig is releasing their new album Auf dem Weg in Deine Welt tomorrow, the 28th of September. As I remember, Eisheilig have always had a kind of downtrodden, gothic sound, and it sounds like their new album is no different. Well, actually, it kind of is, in a way. I’ve actually noticed a lot of sounds that you might hear from some kind of indie rock band throughout the album. It isn’t indie by any stretch of the imagination, the depressing, monotone vocals keep your emotions low, but the light does try to shine through in some places. “Kein Land in Sicht” is a good example of what I’m talking about. The drum beats and happy-sounding guitars start you off thinking everything is going to be great, but then the song progresses and the lyrics kick in and you realize it was just a false alarm. After all, the title of the song translates into “no land in sight”. That’s usually not something to be happy about.

Of course, there’s always a time for being depressed. Auf dem Weg in Deine Welt is just the kind of album I have to be in a certain mood for. It is a good album and is very well produced. I also know a lot of people who really love Eisheilig and listen to them quite often, so I can’t say you will necessarily agree with me or not. The only way to find out is to give them a listen and see how you react. Listen to a few new songs on Eisheilig’s MySpace site and let me know if you agree or not.

Eisheilig - Auf dem Weg in Deine Welt tracklist
01. Wir leben
02. Dein Stern
03. Auf dem Weg in deine Welt
04. Steht auf!
05. Die dunkelste Stunde
06. Ich halte dich
07. Gold
08. Kein Land in Sicht
09. Wird alles gut
10. Geh durchs Feuer

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

Blutengel is releasing their latest maxi Lucifer today. There are 2 versions of the CD, Purgatory and Blaze, which you can either buy seperately or combined. Both versions offer the standard Lucifer track plus a few remixes. Two live tracks are added bonuses for both, as well. Despite the release date, Blutengel is having no bad luck selling their music. In fact, Infrarot.de already sold out of the Purgatory version.

I haven’t heard the tracks yet, but it should be pretty good judging by Blutengel’s past music, nice gothic rock. If you haven’t heard Blutengel before, you can listen to a few tracks here.

Lucifer (Purgatory)
01. Lucifer (Single Version)
02. Lucifer (Remix by Necessary Response)
03. Seelenschmerz 2007 (Reworked by Eminence of Darkness)
04. Solitary Angel (live 2007)
05. Bloody Pleasures (live 2007)

Lucifer (Blaze)
01. Lucifer (Single Version)
02. Lucifer - The Tempter (by Rabia Sorda)
03. Black Roses 2007 (Reworked by Eminence of Darkness)
04. My Saviour (live 2007)
05. Der Spiegel (live 2007)

Arndt from Radio Goethe reports that Peter Müller (a.k.a. Peter Kafka or Peter Pathos), former singer of Fiddler’s Green, has joined a gothic-rock band and is also the new singer of Lacrimas Profundere. Upon a bit of research, it looks like the gothic band Peter is now involved with is called Beloved Enemy. While I can’t tell you much about the band, anyone can hear on the site’s Media section that their music is pretty dark and heavy (although I find the title “Fuck Me Back To Life” to be rather amusing). The music actually reminds me a bit of Type O Negative. This is certainly quite a change from anything Fiddler’s Green has ever done.

Zeraphine is releasing a best-of album called Years In Black on June 29th, exactly 1 day short of 1 year after their current album, Still, was released. Years In Black is made up entirely of songs from each of Zeraphine’s 4 current albums with no bonus material, because the band felt this would be unfair to fans who had already purchased their music and would have to buy this CD just for a few unreleased songs. I like their way of thinking.

For Zeraphine newbies, this best-of CD is a great gateway to all the music this goth-inspired hard rock band has to offer. If you’d like to hear some music before committing, check out Zeraphine’s Myspace page to listen to 3 tracks from their album Still. There are also a few clips on Zeraphine’s website by clicking “Multimedia” and then “Audio”.

Years In Black tracklist
01. Die Wirklichkeit
02. Be My Rain (Radio Mix)
03. In der Tiefe
04. Still
05. Die Macht in Dir
06. Schreit dein Herz
07. Sterne sehen
08. Siamesische Einsamkeit
09. No More Doubts
10. I Never Want To Be Like You
11. New Year’s Day
12. I’m Numb
13. Fang mich
14. Kaltes Herz
15. Flieh mit mir
16. Die Welt kann warten
17. Ohne dich
18. Wenn du gehst

Swiss-based gothic-metal band Lacromisa will be releasing a live DVD called Lichtjahre this Friday, June 29th. According to Lacrimosa’s website, this opus plays for 180 minutes, consisting of 24 songs which were recorded in several different countries. The DVD is region code 0 so you will be able to play it on any DVD player. Naturally, the live performance will also be released in audio format, specifically on 2 CDs in both a stadard version and a limited edition version.

Lacrimosa’s Myspace page has 2 pretty long clips from the new live album plus 2 others from their previous albums. You can also listen to 45-second samples of 10 songs from Lichtjahre on Infrarot.de here.

Lichtjahre tracklist

DVD version
01. Kelch der Liebe
02. Alles Lüge
03. Der Morgen danach
04. Not every pain hurts
05. Letzte Ausfahrt: Leben
06. The turning point
07. Schakal
08. Malina
09. Ich verlasse heut’ Dein Herz
10. The party is over
11. Stolzes Herz
12. Road to pain
13. Ich bin der brennende Komet
14. Copycat
15. Durch Nacht und Flut
16. Lichtgestalt

Follow the jump for the other versions…
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If the name Hertzton sounds familiar to you, don’t worry, you’re not imagining things. Just last year, the band led by Markus Winter released their album Schattentänzer, but they are already back with their followup Metamorphose. Released on May 18th, Metamorphose consists of 12 tracks and can be fully downloaded for just 9.95 Euros (which is about $13.38) on Musicload.de. You can also download a song individually for 1.09 Euros (or $1.47) on the same site by clicking the album details. Hertzton’s 2 previous albums are also available for the same price.

Markus is influenced by a wide variety of bands from many different genres. His music can be described as sounding like anything from Rammstein to Wolfsheim to Die Toten Hosen. The sound of Metamorphose specifically is more gothic rock with strong electronic undertones. To hear a sampling of Hertzton’s music for yourself, head on over to their Myspace page and have a listen.

Metamorphose tracklist
01. Verführer
02. Herz der Unendlichkeit
03. Du wartest
04. Schattentänzer
05. Hertzhammer
06. Mauern aus Eis
07. Come stai???
08. Eiszeit im Paradies
09. Licht und Schatten
10. Zaubermond
11. Hörst du mich?
12. Als ich mein Herz zu Grabe trug

For more info about Hertzton, check out their website at Hertzton.net.