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.

On the 25th of April the German one-man black and gothic metal project Eden Weint Im Grab (or EwiG) will be releasing its second album titled Trauermarsch Nach Neotopia. The first album, Traumtrophäen Toter Trauertänzer, was released in 2004 for free on the Internet. It was quite a success, as the songs having been downloaded over 60,000 times according to EwiG’s website. Now Alexander Paul Blake, the man behind the project, is ready to release another dose of deadly black metal anthems, a full 14 of them.

Listen and order
You can get a taster of EwiG’s music on its Myspace site, where there are two songs from the upcoming album and also some of the older ones. You can still download the first album completely for free in its entirety on the band’s website as well. Trauermarsch Nach Neotopia is available at Winter Solitude Promotion in two different configurations; just the CD for 12 € or a special fan package for 25 €. The package includes the album itself, a T-shirt, an autographed picture and the first album in a special DVD case and bonus tracks.

Tracklisting for Trauermarsch Nach Neotopia:
01. Epiphanie Des Grauens
02. Krieg Im Wunderland
03. Blutquell
04. An Die Nacht…
05. Nach Eden Übers Meer
06. Undine (Sey Meyn Schutzgeyst)
07. Unter Dem Eis
08. Kindheitsrequiem
09. Im Schwarzen Todesblumenhain
10. Für Phantasus, Ein Traumsonett
11. Scheiterhaufen Eurer Phantasie
12. Weltgeheimnis
13. Durch Sturm Und Äonen
14. Heimwärts Ins Licht

Accessory plans U.S. West Coast tour

I heard a few complaints when Accessory’s brief U.S. tour totally missed the West coast, but they have since announced plans to return to the other side of the States for a few more concerts. With just 7 dates, this is another really short tour, but combined with the other 7 they played previously, I guess it could be considered a decent showing. Accessory will be performing with Dust Is Noise for all dates, plus an additional guest Syndika Zero for the Portland, Oregon show. If you’re into electro-industrial, Accessory is a band you may very well be interested in hearing, and then seeing live on stage.

Accessory’s U.S. West Coast tour dates:
June 22 - San Francisco, California - Fat City
June 23 - Portland, Oregon - The Fez Ballroom
June 24 - Seattle, Washington - TBA
June 26 - Salt Lake City, Utah - Club Vegas
June 28 - Vegas, Nevada - Vector
June 30 - Tucson, Arizona - TBA
July 04 - Los Angeles, California - Das Bunker

B.O.S.C.H. to perform in a movie

One of the best new electro-metal bands from Germany, B.O.S.C.H. has been attracting attention from all kinds of people, movie producers included. The band has recently announced that they will be performing in a new movie directed by Joachim Mais called Katharsis. In the scene where B.O.S.C.H. will be performing, there will be lots of extras acting as the creatures of the underworld. This is where the band’s fans come into play: You are all invited to wear your best gothic and alternative clothing and take part in the filming of this big scene. If you want to participate, just check out the band’s post on MySpace for further details.

Die! has 2 new demos online

You may remember that ex-Megaherz singer Mathias Elsholz was confirmed to be the new singer of Die! back in August of last year. Well, it looks like the band has been hard at work with their new frontman because they now have 2 new demos available on their MySpace page. Both “Alles In Eine Topf” and “Teufelswerk” have Mathias’s signature broad vocal range, and I am predicting even more fans will be debating the musical similarities between Die! and Megaherz as well. They’re not nearly as refined as Megaherz’s high-quality demos, but you can definitely get a feeling for what the finished songs may sound like. Be sure to give them a listen.

New Atrocity video and stadium appearance
We’re getting a double dose of news from Atrocity today. First of all, they recently filmed a new music video for the song “The Sun Always Shines On TV” from their current album Werk 80 II. The song is a metal interpretation of the Norwegian synthpop band a-ha’s 1985 single. Personally, I don’t think either the song or the video are that great so I’m not going to post it here, but you can still watch it on Youtube if you want.

Second, Atrocity will appear at the Gottlieb Daimler Stadium on May 17th for the VfB Stuttgart vs. Arminia Bielefeld final soccer match. The game is sold out which means they will be playing in front of 56,000 people, quite an experience I can imagine.

Wumpscut’s Schädling out in America today
Just a quick reminder to all Wumpscut fans in the USA and Canada: Schädling was just released here today on Metropolis Records. We have been keeping up pretty well with the news about this latest release from Rudy Ratzinger, so check out my post with the tracklisting and other details or Valtteri’s review of the Schädlingsbox if you haven’t been there already.

4lyn is heading to China
Yesterday, 4lyn announced on their website that they will be travelling to the Chongqing region of China to participate in a the German Cultural Weeks during May. They also plan to return to Chongqing, which is one of the most populated areas in China, for next year’s events. These cultural programs are being planned by the Goethe Institut to promote cultural exchange between the countries.

Piscide is now available on iTunes
The German electro-industrial band Piscide just released their second album Elekktroshokk a few weeks ago on March 14th, but it was only available as a physical CD. Now you can find Piscide’s music on iTunes if you prefer to download MP3s instead.

In Extremo has been one of the favorite medieval metal bands among German music fans since they started using guitars on their 1998 album Weckt Die Toten. I was one of those earlier fans and have been listening to them for a long time now. I even remember telling my driving instructor about In Extremo when I was first learning how to drive, that’s how much I loved them. They’re just a terrific band. And even though their last few offerings haven’t quite matched my personal favorites from years gone by, I am certainly glad to help spread the news about their newest album, Sängerkrieg.

To kick off their latest body of work, In Extremo will be releasing the single “Frei Zu Sein” on the 25th of April. The album itself will arrive 2 weeks later on May 9th. Sängerkrieg comes in 2 formats, each with 14 songs. The limited edition will have a bonus DVD on top of that, which includes some live footage, a “making of Sängerkrieg” mini-documentary, and other behind-the-scenes material.

Unfortunately, I haven’t heard any samples from Sängerkrieg yet, but I’m pretty confident it will be pretty much like previous In Extremo albums. If you’re a fan, you can pre-order the album from any number of retailers including Amazon.de which has both the regular version and the limited edition, as well as the “Frei Zu Sein” single. If you’re in America and not in a hurry, your best bet is probably to wait and see if a site like Isotank that has other In Extremo albums will import it soon.

In Extremo - Sängerkrieg tracklisting:
01. 7 Köche
02. Sängerkrieg
03. Neues Glück
04. En Esta Noche
05. Mein Sehnen
06. Flaschenpost
07. Requiem
08. Frei zu sein
09. Zauberspruch
10. In diesem Licht
11. Tanz mit mir
12. An End Has A Start
13. Mein liebster Feind
14. Auf’s Leben

Thanks to everybody who contacted me about this album, it looks like it will be pretty popular!

Every once in a while, there is a certain non-German band that’s just too good not to mention, so I always try to find some obscure reason that makes them eligible for this blog. Luckily for me, that’s not too hard to do in the case of Apocalyptica. They are from Finland, but they do have links to several German bands like Rammstein, The Farmer Boys, Die Happy and Guano Apes, all of whom have provided guest vocals at one time or another to Apocalyptica. So now that we have established that much, let’s get on with the whole purpose of this post.

News about the tour
Apocalyptica will be touring the United States and Canada very soon. Their tour begins next Friday, April 11th, and continues on until mid-May for a grand total of 30 concerts. This is a really big tour for a foreign band and they are visiting lots of regions that most bands don’t go to, so let’s help make it worth it for them. Go to one of their concerts, you won’t be disappointed!

Ticket info
Tickets for most of the venues are for sale here on Ticketmaster.com. Also, please note that Ticketmaster lists a few of the venues as being in different towns than the official tour list which is listed below. The venues are all the same, but the actual city it’s in may be a neighboring town to the major city in the list below, so just do a little homework ahead of time to find out exactly where you’re going.

Worlds Collide will be released in North America
One last thing. Apocalyptica’s current album Worlds Collide, which was originally released in Europe on September 14th, will be released in the United States and Canada on Tuesday, April 15th. Chances are, you can probably buy it at their concerts as well. Check out my original post about Worlds Collide for all the info and tracklisting.

Apocalyptica’s 2008 North American Tour dates:
April 12 - House of Blues - San Diego, CA
April 13 - The Boardwalk - Orangevale, CA
April 14 - Roxy - Los Angeles, CA
April 16 - Slim’s - San Francisco, CA
April 17 - Roseland - Portland, OR
April 18 - El Corazon - Seattle, WA
April 19 - Commodore - Vancouver, BC
April 21 - In the Venue - Salt Lake City, UT
April 22 - Gothic Theatre - Denver, CO
April 23 - Beaumont Club - Kansas City, MO
April 24 - Pop’s - St. Louis, IL
April 26 - Fine Line - Minneapolis, MN
April 27 - House of Blues - Chicago, IL
April 28 - House of Blues - Cleveland, OH
April 29 - Crofoot - Detroit, MI
April 30 - Phoenix Theater - Toronto, ON
May 1 - Metropolis - Montreal, QC
May 2 - Paradise Club - Boston, MA
May 4 - Trocadero Theatre - Philadelphia, PA
May 5 - Fillmore / Irving Plaza - New York, NY
May 7 - Club - Washington, DC
May 8 - Amos - Charlotte, NC
May 9 - The Masquerade - Atlanta, GA
May 10 - Parish at House of Blues - New Orleans, LA
May 11 - Warehouse Live - Houston, TX
May 12 - House of Blues - Dallas, TX
May 14 - Sunshine Theatre - Albuquerque, NM
May 15 - Marquee - Phoenix, AZ
May 16 - Pima County Fairgrounds (KFMA Radio Day) - Tucson, AZ
May 19 - House of Blues - Las Vegas, NV

Emil Bulls, the metal crossover band from Bavaria, just released their 6th studio album The Black Path today. Their first single for the album was “The Most Evil Spell” and was released about a month ago on March 7th. You can listen to this song and 2 others on the Emil Bulls MySpace page. Judging by those songs, which is all I’ve heard so far, the music seems pretty good but it really isn’t anything new. You’d never know they were German from the musical style and the English lyrics, they would be very well at home here in America. Still, they are worth checking out if you’re into metal.

The best part
The really cool thing about Emil Bulls is that they have a blog that gets updated every couple of days with news from the band, tourdates, videos, and tons of photos from the studio, videoshoots, and just other random stuff. Traditional websites are great for information, but they lack the interaction that’s so critical online these days. This is the kind of thing bands should be doing to create a more personal connection with their fans. Emil Bulls even has a contest where the band will come to the winner’s house for the day! Now just imagine if your favorite band did things like this. Would you be more willing to tell your friends about them and buy their music and attend their concerts? I bet you would. The only thing I would do differently is make it a part of their actual website where most of the fans already go to, so there would be more interaction and comments.

In search of The Black Path
If you like the album and want to buy it, there are a few options. EMP.de has the album for the lowest price I have found, 12.99 Euros. They also have a special package that has the album and an Emil Bulls cap for 19.99. Also, both AlphaMusic.de and Amazon.de have it for around 15 Euros.

Emil Bulls - The Black Path tracklisting:
01. The Black Path (Intro)
02. To End All Wars
03. The Most Evil Spell
04. All In Tune With The Universe
05. Pledge Allegiance To The Damned (The Unseen One)
06. Wolfsstunde
07. Nothingness
08. Collapsed Memorials
09. Close To The Wind
10. Worlds Apart
11. Pure Anger (The Hex)
12. 10050
13. Cigarette Scars
14. Glad To Be With You Again

Anyone who is a fan of Megaherz has been anxiously awaiting news about their next album which will feature their new singer Lex. Finally, after some delay, the band has made an official 3-part announcement on the .de version of their site.

First of all, the biggest news is that Megaherz has sealed the deal on a new record contract with… guess who… their original label ZYX! I’m sure they are very happy to be back on a solid record label after their last 2 albums were released on newly established labels (Firestarter and S.A.D.) that closed down shortly after the albums got released. And ZYX does a really fantastic job with promotions as well. I’ve seen the press kits they have done for some of their other artists and they are very nicely done. All said, I think it’s a good move for both the band and their fans.

The second part of Megaherz’s announcement today is about getting into the studio. Obviously, the band has written songs and recorded demos already since we can hear the demo for “Ebenbild” on Megaherz.de, but they will now head into the studio for the next few months to professionally record all the tracks for the new album. They expect to be done in the studio by the end of June, so that means the new album should be released sometime in the Fall, or perhaps even the very end of summer if everything moves quickly.

Finally, there are some new photos of the band in their gallery as well. These include some new pics from a rehearsal, a drum recording session, and of course a bunch of live photos from their one-off concert in Ingolstadt.

All of this news will be posted on the American Megaherz site, Megaherz.com, soon. Stay tuned to either band website or right here on Germaniac for continued news on the sixth Megaherz album!

Sub Dub Micromachine (or more easily abbreviated as SDMM) is a metal band from Berlin that was getting a lot of attention online a few years ago, especially from our friends at DeutschMusikLand.com who not only have a band bio, but also an interview and a review of their first album Rabautz! They were supposed to be working on a followup called Pump Up The Blast, but it was never released as far as I can tell. Fortunately, it looks like the band has regrouped from whatever problems delayed that album and are now approaching the release of their next album Auferstanden.

This new album, which I have been told will be released on April 12th, sounds heavier (and significantly more awesome) than I remember Rabautz sounding. If I had to make comparisons, I would say Auferstanden is somewhere between Rob Zombie and the Korn I was listening to in 6th grade when they were still young. And despite the fact that there’s a certain detuned depth to both the guitars and the vocal style that takes me back about 10 years, the music is definitely not a copy of either of those bands. I would say it’s probably better. If there’s any bit of you that longs for the mid-90s before mainstream music started going completely downhill, you need to give this album a listen. Sub Dub Micromachine has 6 great full-length songs streaming on their MySpace page including “Road To Nowhere”, the song they turned into this badass video:

Amazon.de has Auferstanden listed as a hybrid SACD, but they don’t have a price or tracklisting yet. Neither does any other website I have found, including the band’s own site. So, in the absence of any extra information, I’ll give you another video. This one is for the song “Fly.” Just follow the link to watch it.
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