Üebermutter’s first album Unheil! will see the sunlight in just a couple of days on April 4th. Üebermutter is a metal project led by the multi-talented actress, writer, radio presenter and of course musician Luci van Org. The band’s tough and massive style has a certain gothic, very German feel to it, I guess someone might say this is what Rammstein could sound like if most of them happened to be of the fairer sex.

Listen and Watch
There’s four rather generous samples of the songs on the album on Üebermutter’s Myspace site, and below you can also find a video for their song Heim und Herd.

Where to find Unheil
Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find Unheil! at any other retailer than EMP.de, which I believe doesn’t ship to the States.

Tracklisting for Üebermutter - Unheil!:
01. Mädchen (TeilZwo)
02. Mutterherz
03. Heim und Herd
04. Am Anfang war das Weib
05. Meer
06. Brenne!
07. Gebärmaschine
08. Liebe ist Schmerz
09. Krieg
10. Ruhe Sanft
11. Unheil

Me? I’ll definitely be grabbing this one if I get the chance.

Heim und Herd video

I hope you’re in the mood for some hard rock and industrial metal, because that’s exactly what you’ll find on the current Radio Goethe podcast. Arndt serves up a hearty portion of some of our favorite guitar-oriented German bands like Megaherz, Die Krupps, KMFDM, and of course Rammstein. Thrown into the mix this week are a few new(ish) songs including the Die Krupps cover of Pop Will Eat Itself’s “Ich Bin Ein Auslander” which was released on their 2CD anthology this past October.

As usual, you can listen to a new podcast every week on RadioGoethe.org or subscribe to it on iTunes.

This week’s Radio Goethe podcast playlist:
Megaherz: Dein Herz Schlägt (read more about Megaherz)
Megaherz: Herzblut
Brandenburg: Ein heisser Blick
Riefenstahl: Es ist vorbei (read more about Riefenstahl)
Richthofen: Hart am Wind
Schweisser: Gelbkarierte Sakkos
Schwarz: Schwarz
Keilerkopf: Godzilla
Massendefekt: Ein Leben lang ist nicht genug
Die!: Lass es regnen (read more about Die!)
Metallspürhunde: Rattenfänger (read more about Metallspürhunde)
Witt: Supergestört und superversaut (read more about Joachim Witt)
KMFDM: Anarchy (read more about KMFDM)
Rammstein: Rammstein (read more about Rammstein)
Die Krupps: Ich bin ein Ausländer (read more about Die Krupps)

We have waited a long time since Totenmond’s album TonbergUrtod was released in 2005, but now after 3 years the band is finally releasing a new album called Thronräuber. This will be Totenmond’s 7th full-length album to date and will be in stores on April 25th. 10 all new songs will play for nearly 50 minutes and will be delivered in 3 different formats: a standard CD, a limited edition digipack, and a limited LP version on black vinyl. I don’t yet know exactly what extra content, if any, the limited edition has.

Listen to Thronräuber
Totenmond already has their new song “Sonnenstrahl” available on their MySpace page and it sounds great! It’s just like what we have come to expect from them, it has really deep, dirty metal riffs in Totenmond’s signature combination of grindcore and doom metal (or “crustcore” as the band would call it). Very drawn out and textural. I definitely can’t wait for this one!

Pre-order the album
EMP.de has all 3 versions available to pre-order already.

Totenmond - Thronräuber tracklisting
01. Luzifer Stampft
02. Achtung Panzer
03. Nihil Novi
04. Dornenschaf
05. Schlachtinfarkt
06. Sonnenstrahl
07. Templum Omnium
08. Rausch Unser
09. Schwarz als Zweck
10. Luzifer Stampft 2

If you don’t know who Doro Pesch is, you’re probably not a big metal fan. She is one of the most well known female singers in metal, both in Germany and around the world. Her band Doro is the next German band to tour the United States and Canada starting this coming Friday. Their first show is in Virginia and then they will travel across the continent for the next month playing a total of 22 concerts. If you’re interested, check out one of Doro’s concerts when they come near you. In the meantime, head on over to Doro’s MySpace page to hear some of their music.

Doro’s North American tourdates
March 20 - Philadelphia, PA - Jokers
March 21 - West Springfield, VA - Jaxx
March 22 - Poughkeepsie, NY - The Chance
March 23 - New York, NY - Highline Ballroom
March 25 - Toronto, ON, Canada - The Funhaus
March 26 - Cleveland, OH - Peabody’s
March 28 - Detroit, MI - I-Rock
March 29 - Mokena, IL - The Pearl Room
March 30 - St. Paul, MN - Station 4
April 01 - Milwaukee, WI - Vnuk’s Lounge
April 04 - Seattle, WA - Studio Seven
April 05 - Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theatre
April 07 - San Marcos, CA - Jumping Turtle
April 08 - West Hollywood, CA - Whisky a Go-Go
April 09 - Tempe, AZ - The Clubhouse
April 11 - Houston, TX - Scout Bar
April 12 - Ft. Worth, TX - Ridglea Theater
April 13 - San Antonio, TX - White Rabbit
April 15 - St. Petersburg, FL - The State Theater
April 16 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Culture Room
April 17 - Atlanta, GA - The Masqerade
April 18 - Nashville, TN - The Muse

Be sure to check out the Tour Dates section for more German bands on tour in the USA and Canada.

We have been experiencing a major influx of German bands touring over here in North America in recent months. So far in 2008, we have seen The Jeans Team, De/Vision, and And One all successfully complete their tours, but the fun has just begun! 4 more German bands have recently confirmed that they will also be touring America. They are: Seabound, Doro, Accessory, and Destroid. In addition to these confirmed bands, Unheilig fans also know that there have been rumors of an American tour later in the year for that band. And as an extra boost to all of this excitement, the Finnish cello rock band Apocalyptica (which has a lot of connections with German bands) will also be going on an extensive 30-concert tour across the continent. 2008 has just gotten a lot better!

I will certainly post the full tourdates for all of the bands listed above in the coming weeks, but the next band to arrive is Seabound so I need to tell you about them first…

Seabound is the next German band to tour America
Seabound is a synthpop duo which has produced 4 studio albums to date. With a rapidly expanding fanbase worldwide thanks to the support of Metropolis Records, they are now preparing to embark on their first tour overseas. The “Alliance Tour 2008″ will take Seabound across the United States for 14 concerts. Shortly after the tour concludes, the band will release their first live album Come Forward - Live In Berlin on April 8th. The electro group Iris will be opening for Seabound throughout the entire tour, except the Connecticut show because that’s a larger festival with lots of bands.

You can listen to some of Seabound’s music on their MySpace page. Seabound.de also has lots of info about the band, from photos and lyrics to album reviews and additional MP3 samples. Take some time to check this band out, and head to one of their concerts if you like their music. I’ve heard they put on really great shows.

Seabound “Alliance Tour 2008″ dates:
Click the link on the venue for ticket info

Mar 12 - Shampoo - Philadelphia, PA
Mar 13 - Rock and Roll Hotel - Washington D.C.
Mar 14 - Blacksun Festival - New Haven, CT
Mar 15 - The Madison - New York City, NY
Mar 16 - Water Street - Rochester, NY
Mar 18 - Pegasus - Pittsburgh, PA
Mar 19 - Luna - Detroit, MI
Mar 20 - Darkroom - Chicago, IL
Mar 22 - Elysium - Austin, TX
Mar 24 - Club Dada - Dallas, TX
Mar 26 - El Corazon - Seattle, WA
Mar 27 - Mt. Tabor - Portland, OR
Mar 29 - DNA Lounge - San Francisco, CA
Mar 30 - Safari Sam’s - Los Angeles, CA

Back in October, Schock surprised us when they emerged from years of total silence with several new songs already recorded. They have kept their site very up to date since then, adding a new flash animation, new band photos, a new forum, and also the announcement that their forthcoming third album will be called Halt Still. There are also a few new songs (full length) on Schock’s MySpace page for you to enjoy until the album comes out. Honestly, I have to say that I liked the 4 songs they had on there before, but “Hilf Mir” and “Nichts Verlieren” aren’t bad, either. I am looking forward to this album and will post more updates as the news emerges.

Emigrate’s 3rd single “Temptation” was supposed to be released at the end of January, according to one news post on the band’s website. Obviously that didn’t happen, but Emigrate’s latest email newsletter announced that it will finally be released on March 7th. In addition to the featured track, the single will have 2 previously unreleased songs, “Face Down” and “I Have A Dream” plus the first 2 Emigrate music videos.

The newsletter also says that this single will only be released as a physical CD. There will be no digital downloads available. I’m not too sure how smart that is these days. And on top of that, the CD will only be released in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. So much for making music accessible to your fans. If you want to buy Temptation, you will have to hop on over to a German webstore like Amazon.de which has it for EUR 6.99.

In case you were wondering, the background photo on the cover is of New York City, looking south with Jersey City on the other side of the river.

Emigrate - Temptation single tracklist
01. Temptation (album track)
02. Face Down (non-album track)
03. I Have A Dream (non-album track)
04. My World (album track)
05. My World (video)
06. New York City (video)

There’s still some time before any major releases in March, so I’m actually going to tell you about a few of the other interesting February releases that I missed…

Down Below - Sand In Meiner Hand MCD and Sinfony 23 re-release
Down Below is a relatively new gothic pop-rock band that started out in 2003. After gaining some popularity with their first 2 albums, they entered the 2008 Bundesvision Song Contest with their new single “Sand In Meiner Hand”. It was the band’s first German-language song, everything else they have done so far has been in English. When the contest was held on February 14th, Down Below only came in 3rd place (Subway To Sally won), but nevertheless the new single was released the next day on the 15th. Their latest album, 2007’s Sinfony 23, was also re-released on the same day with “Sand In Meiner Hand” and a few extra remixes added as bonus tracks. You can find the new single either on DownBelow.de or the band’s MySpace page, along with several other songs from Sinfony 23.

Die Apokalyptischen Reiter - Tobsucht-Reitermania over Wacken & Party.San
Die Apokalyptischen Reiter released a live album on the 1st of February. As the full name suggests, Tobsucht sports footage from the band’s performances at the Wacken Open Air festival and the Party.San festival and is available in 3 versions. There is an audio version with 2 CDs containing 90 minutes of live music, there is a DVD version with 180 minutes of concert footage, and there is a combined version with both of the CDs and the DVD plus a special booklet and packaging. Die Apokalyptischen Reiter have 2 songs from this live album on their MySpace page. Check it out if you’re into some crazy thrash metal.

Yes, German metal fans should really be looking forward to this Friday. Not only does the 29th of February mark the release of Atrocity’s new album Werk 80 II, but this is also the day when the band will re-release many of their older albums again.

First, some info about the re-releases
Among the Atrocity albums to see life for the second time is the original Werk 80 which features lots of metal covers of songs from the ’80s, just like the new Werk 80 II. Also getting re-released are Willenskraft, Blut, Die Liebe (feat. Das Ich), Calling The Rain (feat. Yasmin), and Hallucinations/The Hunt. Several of these albums have extra bonus tracks that were not available on the original versions. For example, the Werk 80 re-release includes the 3 bonus tracks that were previously only on the limited festival edition of the album, plus 2 other remixes from related singles. Take a look at the end of this post for the full tracklisting of all the albums.

Some of these re-releases really go back to the time when Atrocity was a proper death metal band. I just had to start listening to Willenskraft as I type this post, and I am now remembering how much I love it. “Scorching Breath” is just an awesome track, the guitar riffs are insane. If this doesn’t get you moving, you’ve got to be comatose. I wish I could find someplace that has samples from this and the other albums for you to listen to, but I haven’t found any.

Where to find the 6 re-releases
You can find the 6 re-releases online in several different shops. Both AlphaMusic.de and EMP.de have them for 9.99 Euros each, except for Hallucinations/The Hunt which is slightly more because it has 2 CDs.

Now, an update about Werk 80 II
As you know, Werk 80 II is a followup to Atrocity’s first ’80s cover album, Werk 80. The standard album features 11 tracks, while the limited edition digipack has an extra bonus track. There is also a third version of the album that I just recently found out about, called the deluxe edition, in which you will actually get both Werk 80 albums (I and II) together in a special slipcase plus an alternate album cover. In case you were wondering, if you choose to get this deluxe double disc version, you will get the limited edition version of Werk 80 II with the bonus track, but only the standard version of the original Werk 80. This is a really great combination if you love metal and classic ’80s hits. I would definitely buy it if I didn’t already have the limited festival edition of the original Werk 80, which has 3 bonus tracks of its own.

Listen to Werk 80 II
Atrocity’s MySpace page provides a few medleys from Werk 80 II for your listening pleasure, plus some songs from their previous album Atlantis which is also really great.

Where to find Werk 80 II
EMP.de has Werk 80 II for the lowest price I’ve found online (13.99 Euros), but if you want to get the CD shipped to America you’ll have to go to the next site, AlphaMusic.de. Ironically, they actually have the limited edition for cheaper than the regular version, so you may as well pay less to get more, while you can.

All of the tracklists are going to make this a very long post, so I hid them below. (more…)

Earlier in the decade before Subway To Sally signed on with Nuclear Blast, they released 2 albums called Herzblut (in 2001) and Engelskrieger (in 2003). These albums were a little more raw and folky than their more recent ones like Nord Nord Ost or Bastard, and some people I know actually prefer this slightly older sound. And now, Herzblut and Engelskrieger can be purchased together as a 2CD set. Nothing really remarkable… Universal probably just realized that they own the labels that released both of these albums (Island and Motor) so they decided to capitalize on Subway To Sally’s more recent success, but it may be of interest to the band’s hardcore fans or collectors.

You can find this combo on AlphaMusic.de for a pretty reasonable 13.99 Euros. They also have samples of every song from both albums there, if you are interested in getting in on this deal to start your STS collection.

Subway To Sally - Herzblut-Engleskrieger tracklisting

Disc 1 - Herzblut:
01. Die Schlacht
02. Veitstanz
03. Das Messer
04. Herrin des Feuers
05. Kleid aus Rosen
06. Wenn Engel hassen
07. Krötenliebe
08. Accingite Vos
09. So rot
10. Drei Engel
11. Kleid aus Rosen (unplugged)

Disc 2 - Engelskrieger:
01. Geist des Krieges
02. Falscher Heiland
03. Unsterblich
04. Kleine Schwester
05. Abendlied
06. Narben
07. 2000 Meilen unterm Meer
08. Knochenschiff
09. Wolfstraum
10. Verloren
11. Abendland