Herzwerk II re-released today

Some Megaherz fans will tell you that Herzwerk II is the band’s best album. It is fantastic, no doubt, and is the last album recorded with their original singer Alexx Wesselsky. Herzwerk II was originally released in 2002 on the new (at the time) BMG sublabel Firestarter, but they later shut down business, leaving Megaherz in need of yet another new label. One question that was never really asked was who got the rights for Herzwerk II after the demise of Firestarter. Now, it is apparent that Megaherz’s first (and also current) label ZYX got them. How can we tell? ZYX organized a re-release of Herzwerk II and it has just arrived in stores today!

Megaherz has yet to say anything about this, but luckily for German music fans, we are all over any news about Megaherz like flies on… well, you know. If you’re anything like us, you will notice right away that the re-release contains the bonus track “Es Brennt” which was originally only available on the limited edition digipack version of Herzwerk II. That’s good news if you weren’t able to get one of the digipacks when the album first came out, or if you are a newer fan. Want even better news? The re-release is actually cheaper than the original in most stores that still have it for sale. For the best prices, visit Amazon.com in North America or AlphaMusic.de in Europe.

Megaherz - Herzwerk II re-release tracklist:
01. Herzblut
02. Glas und Tränen
03. I.M. Rumpelstilzchen
04. 5. März
05. F.F.F. (Flesh for Fantasy)
06. Hand auf’s Herz
07. Zu den Sternen
08. Licht II (Instrumental)
09. Heute schon gelebt?
10. An deinem Grab
11. Perfekte Droge
12. Spiel nicht…
13. Gold
14. Es brennt

“Mann Von Welt” single also out today

Don’t forget that Megaherz’s new single “Mann Von Welt” is also being released today. Yes, the band announced that it would be out last week on June 20th, but all the shops say June 27th and since they have the ultimate control about when a CD is put on the shelf, we will go with their date. You can find both the basic version and the limited fan edition on EMP.de.

The Viennese metal band Stahlhammer has just announced their first ever live appearance in the United States. They will be one of many bands performing at the Thunder of Gods Festival II outside of Austin, Texas, which will run from May 8-10 of 2009.

While the concert is still almost a year away, many of the details are already confirmed. It will be a 3-stage, 3-day weekend festival at RP Campground which is in the town of Dripping Springs, Texas. The pre-sale ticket price is expected to be $60 for the weekend which includes camping, and it will be BYOB.

The festival’s site will be announcing their first set of bands (and hopefully other details) in just a few days on June 30th. We’ll keep you up to date as the festival date comes closer.

The combination of Greg going MIA and me slacking off because of the holidays is not a good thing for Germaniac. Here’s the catch-up news post for some of the most important stuff that’s been happening in these couple of weeks. I hope we’ll be able to resume normal operations as soon as possible! All the tracklistings and ordering information relevant to this post can be found behind the link at the end, because with them this already horribly lengthy post would be, simply put, INSANE.

Oomph!’s album #10 to be Monster

Oomph!, one of the pioneering bands of the industrial metal and NDH genres, will be releasing their tenth album in August according to Oomph!’s official site. The record, of which we got a little taster with the single Wach auf! which was released earlier this year, will be titled Monster. Not much else is known of the upcoming record, except for some tidbits revealed in a German interview. Amongst others, we’re going to get an “electro metal tango” piece and a blues song as well.

No doubt in celebration of their tenth album and as a sign of gratitude to their fans, Dero, Crap and Flux are also offering fans a unique chance to permanently cement themselves in the Oomph! legacy by running a contest for the cover design of the new album. Anyone can send in their visions of what the cover should be until June 27th, and the boys themselves will then choose the final design that will adorn the album. A number of the submissions can already be checked out here, and they range from quite horrible to insanely cool. I for one am eager to find out what the final product will look (and sound!) like!

Megaherz single soon

Before the hotly anticipated new album Heuchler, Megaherz will release the single Mann von Welt on June 20th. There will be two versions of the single: a basic one with Mann von Welt and Es Brennt, a bonus track from the sold out limited edition of Herzwerk II, and an EP-length limited fan edition version with three additional songs from older albums. As far as I can see, the fan edition is not very necessary unless you’re new to Megaherz and need to sample the older stuff, but the single is a great opportunity to hear Es Brennt, which is an excellent song you might very well have missed the first time around. You can hear a preview of Mann von Welt on Megaherz’s Myspace and official site.

Eisbrecher’s single detailed

The first single from Eisbrecher’s upcoming album Sünde will be titled “Kann denn Liebe Sünde sein?”, and it will be released on July 11th. This is, however, a Germany-only release, so completionists will have to pay an extra buck or two (or more like ten) if they want to get their hands on this release. No cover or tracklisting has been made public as of yet, but if the previous singles by Eisbrecher are of any indication, this one should too sport a couple of remixes and possibly a bonus song or other small feature alongside the main track itself.

Die Apokalyptischen Reiter single

Die Apokalyptischen Reiter, a well-respected German trash metal outfit will release a single titled Der Weg on 27th June. The single features two songs from the upcoming full-lenght release Licht, which doesn’t have a release date yet, and two bonus tracks. The physical CD version of the single published by Nuclear Blast is limited to only 1000 copies, as it was originally planned to only be available via iTunes. Die Apokalyptischen Reiter also released a live DVD earlier this year.

Unheilig’s Spiegelbild EP revealed

The tracklisting and cover design for Unheilig’s Spiegelbild EP have been finally revealed. True to the style of the EPs before, this release is limited to just 3333 pieces and has a total of three different versions of the title song, a new version of the earlier single An deiner Seite and also a trio of completely new Unheilig tracks. Spiegelbild will be released on 26th July.

Laibach’s Dead in Trbovlje in July

Laibach have pushed back the release of their new DVD, which was originally slated for release on 16th June, to 26th July. Titled Dead in Trbovlje, the DVD will feature a full live concert from their widely acclaimed Volk tour, four music videos and on top of that, six of the background screens/videos Laibach used in their Volk shows. There’s also a short commentary on the tour.

Thanks to Nadja for all the tips!

That’s it for now. I know there’s a ton I missed, but at least we have something to cover up the massive time gap we’ve been experiencing. Here’s hoping that Greg will be back in full force soon!

Check out the tracklistings for these items after the jump…
(more…)

Megaherz has just updated their website with the latest info about their highly anticipated 6th album. We can easily pick out the 3 most important pieces of info from the article. First up, the album’s name: Heuchler. Second, the release date: July 25th. Third, there’s a new song online: “Fauler Zauber”.

The band’s announcement also says that there will be a pre-listening of the entire album scheduled 1 week before the release date on their MySpace page. Mark your calendars and be sure to check it out on July 18th. There will also be a preview of Heuchler on May 23rd in the virtual world of Second Life at the Club Dark Refuge. Lex will be online there to chat and answer all fo yoru questions.

Finally, as you might expect, the Megaherz team is gearing up for promotions in the media. Look for them in the June editions of magazines like Orkus, Zillo and Sonic Seducer.

Rinderwahnsinn back together for a reunion concert

The previously split up hard rock band Rinderwahnsinn is scheduled to play a reunion concert this Thursday, May 22nd, in Frankfurt. There’s no word if this means the band will be back for good or produce another album, but at least any of the band’s fans who are nostalgic for their albums from the 90s will get one more chance to hear them performed live. Check out some of Rinderwahnsinn’s music on their MySpace page. I have the album Herrscher, it’s not bad.

Metropolis Records opens a forum

The US-based industrial and EBM record label Metropolis Records, which releases several German bands in North America, has just launched an online forum. There’s a section for Metropolis artists as well as a section for other musicians in the scene and a general discussion area. If you’re interested in joining, just head over to this page and sign up in the upper right corner.

Dog Eared Pages writes song for the Blue Devils

The pop-punk band Dog Eared Pages recently released a new song written for The Blue Devils, a football (American football, not soccer) team from Hamburg. You can hear the song, as well as others by the band, on their MySpace page. Dog Eared Pages is also scheduled to play several times at the Blue Devils stadium during the next few months.

Dornenreich’s new album In Luft Geritzt is another album that got its release date pushed back. It was originally supposed to hit stores last week, but it’s finally on sale just now. Well, yesterday if you want to get technical. (I know, I still have to move the date in the releases page.)

Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find any samples from In Luft Geritzt. Their MySpace page only has clips from some of Dornenreich’s older albums. Not very good on their part, but I guess it will have to do for now. You can still get a pretty decent idea of how their “ambient black metal” music sounds. It’s actually nothing like what most people would consider ambient, but I’m coming up blank trying to think of a better term for it. What does it sound like to you?

Of course, if you are already a fan of Dornenreich, then you probably know what to expect and might not have a problem buying the album without hearing a bit of it first. In that case, AlphaMusic.de has In Luft Geritzt for the really great price of just 11.99 Euros. EMP.de is also showing a 2 disc limited edition version of the album, but doesn’t have a tracklist of it. If you know what’s on the second disc, please let us know in the comments section.

Dornenreich - In Luft Geritzt tracklisting
01. Drang
02. Unruhe
03. Jagd
04. Freitanz
05. Sehnlauf
06. Flügel in Fels
07. Meer
08. Aufbruch
09. Dem Wind Geboren
10. Zauberzeichen

Anyone who has been part of the online German music community for many years may remember GermanMetal.com which started in 2002. The original goal was to create complete fansites for German metal bands, but only the Oomph! and Herzer sections were ever finished before that first version of the site went offline.

Now, after a number of years in hibernation and lots of hard work more recently, site founder Joki has brought life back to GermanMetal.com in the form of a wiki. Just like any other wiki, anyone can add new pages and edit the information contained on the site, creating a knowledge base of German music that represents the areas of expertise of all its contributors. You can help add to the wiki, too. Just create an account to begin.

One thing to keep in mind: GermanMetal.com does not cover all styles of German music. As the name indicates, the site focuses specifically on some of the many various forms of metal that have become popular in Germany. Whether you call it industrial-metal, electro-metal, Neue Deutsche Härte, tanzmetall, or something completely different, it can be tricky figuring out if a band qualifies or not, especially when there are so many names for what seems to be basically the same thing. So if you want to write about a band, you should definitely read exactly what their definition of “German metal” is first. There’s also a priority artists list which can give you some suggestions for what bands to write about.

The GermanMetal.com wiki has lots of information about ASP, Samsas Traum and Unheilig already, and you can be sure that list will grow significantly over time. Check it out.

As many of you know, I am the webmaster of the official Stahlhammer website and I also operate their online store. I’m very glad to be helping them out as much as I can (plus, having my name printed in CD booklets is pretty cool too!). But the band has been quiet lately, so I’ve decided to liven things up a bit with a special CD sale. Of course, this also coincides nicely with the 6th anniversary of when the Stahlhammer website was first created on April 30, 2002.

There are currently just 2 Stahlhammer albums in stock, but they have both been greatly reduced in price and I have plenty of each. Gary’s solo album is also still available, though in a limited supply.

Feind Hört Mit is now just $7.50
Listen to MP3 samples here - Buy it here
Considered by many to be Stahlhammer’s best and most famous album, this essential Neue Deutsche Härte style longplayer was originally released on Nuclear Blast in 1999. It also has covers of Falco’s classics “Mutter, Der Mann Mit Dem Koks Ist Da” and “Jeanny”. Feind Hört Mit is one of the reasons I got into German music so much and it still remains one of my top 5 albums of all time.

Opera Noir has been reduced to $10
Listen to MP3 samples here - Buy it here
This is Stahlhammer’s current album and offers 13 songs of their latest blend of metal, industrial, and other more unconventional influences. Among the tracklist is a cover of David Bowie’s “Heroes/Helden” and “In The Air Tonight” by Phil Collins.

Gary’s solo album Trivial Slushy Vintage is $10 also
Gary Wheeler was the original voice of Stahlhammer for their debut album Killer Instinkt. After his departure and eventual return, he now leads the band once again. This is his first solo album under his own name and presents a very different style than Stahlhammer, it’s much more mellow. I just have a few copies of this album left.

Be sure to download the samples and give them a listen. If you like Stahlhammer’s music, be sure to buy an album or two. We greatly appreciate your support, thanks!

A new bit of info about Megaherz’s forthcoming 6th album: PowerMetal.de posted a very short article stating that the still untitled album will be released in July, stating Absolut Promotion as the source. It also lists a few song names, some of which were already known. They are “Der Mann von Welt”, “Heuchler”, “Fauler Zauber”, “Kaltes Grab”, “L’Aventure”, and of course “Ebenbild” which you can hear on Megaherz.de.

This anticipated release date seems to fit pretty well with the band’s announcement at the beginning of the month that they expect to be done in the studio by the end of June. The anticipation is building!

The rockers of Dementi are the latest German band to embrace the Creative Commons license and offer their music as free downloads online. Both of the band’s albums, their 2003 debut Zweigefühl and 2005’s Für Heute Reichts, are now available to anyone as long as you don’t use them for any commercial purposes. So go ahead and download Dementi’s music, just visit the download page of their website where you will receive the songs bundled together in a zip file. If you like the music, please don’t forget to support the band for their work by making a donation at the bottom of the same page.

I recommend their second album Für Heute Reichts. It’s the harder one of their two albums and also mixes in some nice electronic elements, it’s really great. I would compare it to Treibhaus, maybe Eisenherz or Megaherz… Check it out.

Don’t forget, Dementi is also working on a new album which is supposed to be released sometime later this year. Not much about it has been announced and I don’t know if they plan to release it for free the same way, but I’ll be sure to bring you the details later on when more information has been announced.