Eisbrecher’s latest album Sünde, which has already been out in Europe for several months now, was not released in North America like their previous 2 albums were. That’s because Dancing Ferret, the label that previously distributed them across the continent, shut down late last year and left them without representation overseas. Fortunately, Eisbrecher has now been picked up by Metropolis Records, which is arguably the biggest electro and industrial label on this side of the Atlantic, and is a favorite for bringing great European bands to the States.

The North American version of Sünde will be released on March 10th. The tracklisting will remain the same as the (limited edition of the) European version, but the album will have completely new artwork as seen in the image above. You can already pre-order the album on the Metropolis mailorder site for just $12.98.

Maybe Eisbrecher has a better chance of touring North America now that they are being distributed and promoted here again, and by a much more prominent label. Let’s hope so!

Eisbrecher - Sünde (North American version)
01. Kann Denn Liebe Sünde Sein?
02. Alkohol
03. Komm Süsser Tod
04. Heilig
05. Verdammt Sind
06. Die Durch Die Hölle Gehen
07. Herzdieb
08. 1000 Flammen
09. This Is Deutsch
10. Zu Sterben
11. Mehr Licht
12. Kuss
13. This Is Deutsch (SITD-Remix)
14. Blut Und Tränen
15. Alkohol (Rotersand-Remix)
16. Kann Denn Liebe Sünde Sein? (SITD-Remix)

Peter Heppner is on his own now, following a lawsuit from his former band-mate Markus Reinhardt and their subsequent separation, but the man with the enigmatic voice is doing just fine post-Wolfsheim. His latest album called Solo was released about two months ago on September 12th, with the single “Alleinesein” being released a week earlier.

There was some initial concern about Heppner’s music composition skills because that was Reinhardt’s job in Wolfsheim, but once you start listening to Solo, you quickly realize that any worries are unfounded. Solo delivers that familiar dark synthpop sound that you loved about Wolfsheim, and it is just as exquisitely executed as you would have expected from Heppner’s former band as well. It’s nearly impossible to tell that Solo really isn’t just a continuation of Wolfsheim, as if they had never split. It’s an excellent album from beginning to end.

Listen to Peter Heppner’s “Alleinesein” right here and be the judge for yourself.

What do you think? Not bad, eh? If you like what you hear, you can buy the “Alleinesein” single or the whole Solo album on Amazon.de. That link for Solo is actually for the limited edition digipack that has a bonus “making of” DVD included, by the way. It’s a pretty good deal at 14.40 Euros. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the song samples on Amazon, too.

Peter Heppner - Solo album track listing
01. Easy
02. Alleinesein
03. Suddenly
04. Vorbei
05. Being Me
06. I Hate You
07. No Matter What It Takes
08. Walter [London or Manchester]
09. Wherever
10. Das geht vorbei…
11. Vorbei (feat. Moonrise)

Bonus DVD
Making of Solo

Once upon a time, I recommended listening to the completely insane industrial metal band Limbogott while smashing various objects… hopefully the inanimate kind. A year has gone by since then so it’s time for an update. Limbogott is currently working on their third album called Spit Or Swallow which has a February 2009 release in sight on Tiefdruck Musik. And while there hasn’t been many details announced yet, we do know that the album is being produced and mixed in Los Angeles by none other than Jay Gordon!

If you don’t already know who Jay Gordon is (and you probably should), he is the voice of the American band Orgy, best known for their cover of New Order’s “Blue Monday”. Jay also played bass on Deadsy’s debut album Commencement and has collaborated with the likes of Linkin Park, Coal Chamber, and Jonathan Davis of Korn, among others. With that kind of experience, Limbogott is in good hands. Let’s hope this relationship can help out with a US release and maybe even a tour over here.

Limbogott’s first new single “Recide” should be released some time before the album and will feature Jay as a guest vocalist. You can bet we’ll be on top of this as more news emerges.

This past Friday, August 22nd, we saw the re-release of 2 Die Krupps albums, Volle Kraft Voraus and I (One). Both albums are significant releases for this historically important band, but display very different styles because an entire decade passed between their original release dates. And both re-releases have lots of previously unreleased bonus material.

Volle Kraft Voraus was the second album by Die Krupps and was originally released all the way back in 1982 when the band was at the forefront of industrial sound experimentation. This re-release contains 2 discs, the first of which is a completely remastered version of the album plus the original version of “Goldfinger”. The second disc contains the original album as it sounded in 1982 plus a few other 12″ mixes.

Skip ahead 10 years to when Die Krupps released I, their 4th full length album, in 1992. This album marked the beginning of their use of electric guitars in combination with industrial beats, once again showing how far ahead of their time Die Krupps really was, and laying down the roots of the Neue Deutsche Härte genre. This re-release also has 2 discs. The first one has the “Atom H” remixed version of the album (Atom H was the first record label founded by Die Krupps frontman Jürgen Engler in the 1980s) and 3 bonus electro versions of some of the album’s tracks. The second disc contains the original album from 1992 plus 5 demo songs that were previously not released.

If you consider yourself to be a Die Krupps fan, you have to get these re-releases. You can find both of them on Amazon.de for 15.97 Euros (Volle Kraft Voraus here and I here), or take advantage of their combo deal and get both for 31.94 Euros. In America, you can find both at Isotank for $25.99 each (Volle Kraft Voraus here and I here).

Continue reading for the complete tracklisting of both re-releases.
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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.

An introduction to Resonator

Resonator is a duo from Münster, Germany, who makes some of the most unique and creative music you can find. Kai typically writes music for theater and works on film soundtracks, while Anja is a formally trained musician who plays the accordion for the Resonator project. Ambient electronic music mixed with accordions is certainly not a common combination of sounds, but I can assure you it’s something very special when you hear it.

Enter the Red Room Diner

Red Room Diner is Resonator’s first full length album, originally released in 2003. It starts out with the mysterious sounding intro “Avis De Securite”. Coming in at under a minute in length, the song doesn’t really give you much of a clue about what you’re in for. This could be the introduction for anything, it’s very abstract. What’s to come? It might surprise you…

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Wrongkong (I love that name) is a new indie-electro-pop collaboration between musicians from Nuremburg, Germany and Calgary, Canada. Their style is very interesting and makes use of some non-traditional song structures, creating an overall sound similar to some electroclash musicians (Peaches comes to mind, for example). Cyrena’s vocals feel right at home with the quick rhythms and upbeat electronics. I’m really liking it. Go listen to some of Wongkong’s 6 full-length songs on their MySpace page. Check out the video below, too. What do you think?

If you like their music, you’ll be happy to know that their roots on both sides of the Atlantic have also allowed them to get record deals for both Europe and the USA. In the EU, Wrongkong’s self-titled album was just released this past Friday, May 16th, on Modern Soul. There, you can find it on Amazon.de for 15.97 Euros. In the USA, the album is out on Minty Fresh but is only available as a digital download. You can get it on iTunes or from the Minty Fresh website. Enjoy!

Wrongkong - Wrongkong tracklisting
01. In this moment
02. Ooh good
03. Real boy
04. Sweat
05. We sleep together
06. Wide open
07. Catch up
08. Clearly too nice
09. The science of your pleasant dreams
10. Quality retriver
11. Lighthouse
12. Better
13. Hiding

Wrongkong’s “Better” music video

Audiomat is a brand new band from the city of Göttingen in the center of Germany. Still fresh and unsigned, they aim right at the center of the post-NDH electro-metal sound that a lot of bands like Treibhaus and BOSCH are playing these days, and they hit the target perfectly.

Listen to the song “Hass Mich” from Audiomat’s demo and you’ll hear exactly what I mean. This is the kind of music that should have been produced right after the original Neue Deutsche Härte bands either faded away or shifted directions, but instead many bands at that point favored a more pure form of metal. Now a second wave of NDH bands like Audiomat have revived the seamless blend of synths with electric guitars.

“Süchtig” is another excellent example of Audiomat’s heavy, fluid style. Mart’s deep vocals (whose sprech-gesang style could be compared with Alexx Wesselsky’s) are perfectly in tune with riffs from the band’s dual guitarists Alex and Martin. Mart also mixes in the electronic elements for a lighter feeling that keeps the song moving along at a good pace.

All summed up, Audiomat is one new band you definitely have to hear. Stop by the band’s MySpace page and listen to the 4 full-length songs available there. I recommend it.

Audiomat’s demo:
01. Hass Mich
02. Spiel Mit Mir
03. Süchtig
04. Herzschlag
05. Göttin

For the past half hour or so, I’ve been listening to a new album called Mama Ist Entzückt by the German blues-rock musician Daloco. Normally, this kind of music isn’t something I would be listening to, but something about the band intrigued me so I decided to listen to some of the music on their MySpace page. Then I noticed that the whole album is available to download as MP3s for free if you just share it with a few of your friends by email. So I did.

I’m glad I did because the musicianship is excellent. Regardless of your personal taste in music, there’s no denying it. Daloco and his fellow musician Bina are both very talented and you can just tell they are totally invested in their music. This is something I can really appreciate, it’s fantastic. So go and give the album a listen. You have nothing to lose.

Daloco - Mama Ist Entzückt tracklisting
01. Euch glaubt doch keiner mehr
02. Teufel in dir
03. Mama ist entzückt
04. Sag den Frauen (dass wir gehen)
05. Zeit für Frieden
06. Es wär einmal
07. Hotelzimmerfenster
08. High noon
09. Sowas wie ne Band
10. Danke, dass sie mich nicht erschossen haben

We have been following Schock’s return and the progress of their new album Halt Still for a while now. The past few years have been troublesome for the band and I knew more than a few people who thought they had simply split up in the 5 years since their last album Glamour was released, so we’re all very glad the band is back and moving towards the release of a third album.

Now, that new album has just become a little bit more real in the mind’s of Schock’s fans. They just announced the release date for Halt Still: June 6th. That’s barely over a month away, so it’s time to get excited! To help build your enthusiasm, go check out the 2 new songs from the album on the band’s MySpace page. Listen to their older ones too, if you’re not already a fan of Schock. They are fantastic!

The band’s site doesn’t have the tracklisting yet, but I found it on an online review of the album (which gave it 10 out of 10 points, by the way). It also tells us the total playtime is 47 minutes and 43 seconds, not bad for 13 tracks. I’m not crazy about the cover art, but I am definitely looking forward to this album and I hope you are too.

One last thing before the tracklisting, you can watch a “Making of Halt Still” video on our April 22nd Newsbites post.

Schock - Halt Still tracklisting
01. Kein Atemzug
02. Oh Yeah
03. Halt Still
04. Wie Ein Tier
05. Nichts Verlieren
06. Lolita
07. Hilf Mir
08. Am Ozean
09. Niemand
10. Frei
11. Es Tut Weh
12. Innerlich Tot
13. Am Ende