Oomph! is back in the news. Their new album Monster will be released in just 10 days on August 22nd, and has 13 tracks including the single “Wach Auf!” which was featured in the German version of the movie Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. A second single “Beim ersten Mal tut’s immer weh” has already been released as well, with the third single “Labyrinth” still to come.

To some of their (former) fans’ dismay, Oomph! has continued with the more mainstream sound introduced on their hit album Wahrheit Oder Pflicht, causing mixed reactions to previews of Monster. The band’s image has also come under scrutiny, the most amusing example of which was a comparison of Oomph as an older version of the pop-rock boy band Tokio Hotel.

Take a listen to some of Oomph’s new songs from Monster. Take a look at their image. What do you think? Is the band headed in the wrong direction?

If you ask me, well, let’s just say I’m not listening to Oomph as I write this. At least their album cover is decent this time, but then again it was the result of a fan contest. Maybe they should let the fans make their music, too.

Oomph! - Monster tracklisting
01. Beim ersten Mal tut’s immer weh
02. Labyrinth
03. 6 Fuß tiefer
04. Wer schön sein will muss leiden
05. Die Leiter
06. Lass mich raus
07. Revolution
08. Auf Kurs
09. Bis zum Schluss
10. In deinen Hüften
11. Wach Auf!
12. Geborn zu sterben
13. Brich aus

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

As you remember, I featured Spielzeug in last week’s Bio of the Week segment and asked if anyone knew what had happened to them. It appeared as if they had simply vanished into thin air one day. Well thanks to some clever detective work and contacting a lot of people, Mikki from DeutschMusikLand.com finally reached one of the old band members and solved the mystery! As we guessed, Spielzeug had indeed broken up a long time ago, but only after some initial success.

Spielzeug did eventually release their demo which was described in the band bio. Zimmer 111 was finished in November of 2002 and featured 7 tracks. The band produced a video of the first song, “Mit der Zeit” with Srad Film. They were even recognized as one of the top 20 newcomers out of 2,000 German bands in 2003 before finally splitting up shortly thereafter.

You can now listen to 4 of the songs from their demo on the new Spielzeug MySpace page. They sound very promising, so it’s a shame the band split up so soon.

This week, I’m doing the Bio of the Week a little bit differently. Instead of just presenting the band and their bio, I want to ask for your help. I was talking with Mikki who runs DeutschMusikLand.com and we were trying to figure out what happened to Spielzeug, but couldn’t find any recent information. No website, no information online, no releases to be found. All we have is the band biography she made 5 years ago. I think it’s pretty clear they have split up, but when? Did they ever release any music? Where are the band members now? If you have any information about Spielzeug, please send me an email at germaniacdotcom@gmail.com and let me know. Thanks.

Now for the bio, from DML:
Hamburg’s Spielzeug play Nu Rock in the German language & can be compared to bands such as Linkin Park, Incubus & Deftones, their music comprising of heavy guitars combined with electronic elements & oscillating between soulful melodies & aggressive rhythmic riffs.

They have also proved by their appearance at Hafenrock 2002 that they have what it takes to play the open air circuits. Their demo release was planned for the middle of 2002 so it’s either out now or will be shortly forthcoming…

So… What happened to Spielzeug?